


Cinnamon and Mint Leaves

by VoteSaxon45



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, Crack, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Episode: s03e12-e13 The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Gay, Hypnotism, M/M, Physical Abuse, Post Episode AU: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords, Post Episode: s03e12 The Sound of Drums, Rape, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Abuse, The Doctor has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but there's a kitten, dubcon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:23:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 49,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5444768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoteSaxon45/pseuds/VoteSaxon45
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"That's how you and the Master started?" Jack asked. The Doctor leaned back in the chair, his face blank, but his eyes were somewhere else. He propped his feet up on the console and laid his arms on either side of him on the back of the bench, one behind Jack himself. "Yeah. Sortof. The Master hated me, at first. He hated the fact that he couldn't control me, I think."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One - the Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil intro for you
> 
> Tell me what you think in the comments :)
> 
> Constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome :D

"Jack, get outside! Quick!" the Doctor shouted into the phone before slamming it down and whirling around to face the Master. He didn't have time to explain to Jack, he just needed the immortal to get here. The seconds seemed to stretch out forever as the Master stepped closer, his eyes bright and violent. His previously-handsome face was contorted in rage and he huffed like an angered bull. "Master," the Doctor pleaded as he backed against the console. The Master didn't reply - he was a man possessed. He snarled and wielded the shard of glass like the weapon it was, thrusting it in front of him and making the Doctor jump back to avoid the glass slicing his abdomen. The Doctor was cornered now, his back pressed against the doors, and the Master was too close for his liking. One more lunge, and the Master would surely make him bleed, make him repent for his sins. Of course, things like this had happened before, but he'd never been this vicious. He was never this driven by a thirst for the Doctor's blood. As the Doctor heard Jack's TARDIS key jerking in the door behind him, he tried to buy himself enough time for the human to get the door open. Sometimes, TARDIS keys could be a bit of a pain. The Master was too close, much too close! He thrust his arm forward again, and the Doctor jerked out of the way just in time to avoid any major damage, but the shard of glass had sliced his upper arm. He felt warm, Artron-rich, sizzling Time Lord blood leaking out of the wound and staining his suit. This was his favorite one!  
The Master lunged again, aiming to kill - or seriously maim - and Jack yanked the doors open just in time. The Doctor flailed as he fell backwards into the Captain's arms, and the Master roared in wrath and charged forward, making Jack drop the Doctor and lunge forward, crash into the Master, and slam him onto the ground. Quicker than lightning, he straddled the Master, grasped the wrist that was attached to the Master's hand that held the shard of glass, and twisted the wrist sharply. The Master let out a howl of pain and vehemence and the glass slipped from his bloody grip, clattered to the metal grating that was the floor of the TARDIS. Jack snapped his hand out and flicked the weapon away. It skittered on the grating as the Doctor laid back on the concrete of the Plass, chest heaving, and tried to calm himself down. His hearts were thundering in his chest and his injury stung, but he laid his head down on the concrete and closed his eyes, focused on calming down. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and jumped, opened his eyes wide to look up at the unfamiliar face above him. "You alright?" the baby-faced Welshman wondered cautiously. The Doctor glanced toward the TARDIS, where Jack was still straddling the spitting, writhing Master. The human looked over his shoulder at the stranger and sighed, turned back around. "Ianto, I told you not to follow me!" he shouted. The man above the Doctor - Ianto - looked up at Jack and admitted, "Well, I couldn't just leave you to be, could I? You get a mysterious phone call from your mysterious Doctor, say five words to me, and then run off?"  
The Doctor frowned. "Five words?" he inquired, still looking up at Ianto, who was upside-down for him.  
"'It's the Doctor, gotta go'. I suppose you're the Doctor, then?"  
"Yep. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ianto."  
"Ianto Jones. I work with Jack in Torchwood," Ianto informed him. He paused, furrowed his brow, and rolled his eyes at himself. "Obviously. Sorry."  
"No, not to worry."  
"Would you like me to help you up?"  
The Doctor thought for a moment and linked his fingers over his belly. "No thanks, actually. I'm a bit winded and it's quite comfortable down here."  
"You'll ruin your suit."  
"It's already ruined."  
"Who's that, then?"  
The Doctor sighed and laid his head back on the concrete. "That is the Master."  
Ianto frowned and looked up at the rabid Time Lord trapped underneath his Captain. "That's the Master?" he wondered. "When Jack spoke about him, he made him sound... well, he didn't sound like this."  
The Doctor sighed again and nodded, eyes closed peacefully. "Yeah..." he groaned. When he heard Jack calling to him, the Doctor's eyes opened slowly, knowing that the Captain was strong and no one was in any immediate danger now that the Master was incapacitated. He was just tired. "Doctor!" Jack called.  
"What is it?" the Time Lord replied, taking time to get to his feet and stride over. The Master fixed his eyes on the Doctor, but continued violently writhing, trying to wriggle out from underneath Jack. It was unnerving, how his eyes only moved with the Doctor, how his rage was aimed directly at the other Time Lord. He didn't say any words, rather, just a string of hisses, growls, and snarls reverberated from his throat and between his teeth. "What do we do?" Jack demanded over all the noise. The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and tucked one hand into his trouser pocket. "I suppose we'll have to sedate him," he informed Jack nonchalantly. The Captain looked up at the Doctor incredulously. "How the hell are you so casual about this? He could've killed you!"  
"He didn't. I'll fetch the sedative."  
"I'll come along," Ianto chimed in. Jack glared at him. "Ianto Jones," he boomed, "don't set a foot in this TARDIS! That's an order!"  
Ianto looked at him for a long moment and then looked down at his polished shoes. He took a step closer to the TARDIS. And then another. One more step. The tips of his shoes were touching the wooden-looking exterior. Jack gave him a warning glare, but Ianto just stepped inside the TARDIS and jogged to catch up with the Doctor, ignoring Jack's commands.  
"Get back here! Ianto! It isn't safe in here for you! Ian-to!"

The Doctor heard Jack shouting and glanced over his shoulder to see Ianto Jones catching up with him. "He doesn't sound happy," the Doctor observed, turning back to look at the corridor in front of him. Ianto looked around in awe for a moment before taking a few longer steps to stride side-by-side with the Doctor. "He isn't."  
"You probably shouldn't be in here. It's not safe."  
"I'll be alright. I think I've been in worse situations."  
He thought he heard the Doctor's breath catching, thought the Doctor faltered for a split second, but the Time Lord resumed like nothing had happened, and Ianto frowned down at his feet. "Why are you so casual about all this?" he wondered. "Jack told me that the Master is a psychopath."  
"Oh, he is."  
"He had a weapon."  
"Hardly."  
"Doctor," Ianto warned. The Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He licked his lips for a moment, trying to think of a good response. "Well... have you ever just been really, very tired, and you're so tired that you don't feel as strongly as you used to? And, it's a sortof physical and mental exhaustion. The world, to you, looks all grey and dull, and there are some points that are exciting enough to add color, but they never last. You're sick to your stomach all the time - you don't want to eat because you don't have the energy, you don't even want to sleep because you're too tired. When you do want to sleep, you want to sleep forever. You just want to fall asleep... and never wake up. You don't even want to walk, or talk to anyone, or take a shower, because you're too tired, but you have to because that's what everyone expects, innit? You smile, you walk about, you eat, you shower, you breathe, because everyone expects you to carry on. Everyone expects you to be fine."  
"I'm no doctor," Ianto admitted quietly, "but that sounds like depression to me."  
The Doctor looked down at him and forced laughter. It was a good show, but Ianto knew better than to be fooled. When the Doctor looked away, his face fell just a bit. "Depression? Hardly. That doesn't sound very me, does it?" he demanded loudly, boisterously, forcing emotion into his voice, forcing a bounce in his step.  
"It's not a personality trait or a fashion style, Doctor," Ianto advised him. The Doctor shrugged.  
"I know that, but... I just don't think Time Lords get affected by that sort of thing."  
"It can happen to anyone. It's not a choice. Nothing has to cause it, but sometimes... sometimes there are things that make it stand out more."  
The Doctor mulled over this, rolling his tongue over his teeth, and was able to avoid answering when the door to the infirmary came into sight. He smiled brightly and bounded toward the door, hearing Ianto struggle to catch up with him. "Alrighty, then! Let's see... strong sedative..."  
He perused through the cupboards and finally extracted a syringe from one, and a vial of thick, lavender liquid from another. The Time Lord stuck the needle in the rubber top of the vial and carefully sucked the fluid out of the small glass container and into a new one. When he was finished, he grinned widely - too wide, perhaps - at Ianto and brushed past him as he sprinted out of the door and raced back through the corridors of the TARDIS, until he reached the console room. "Have you got his hands?" the Doctor demanded as he flicked the syringe and squeezed the bottom just enough for some lavender liquid to ooze out. Jack shouted affirmation, struggling to keep the Master's wrists pinned to the grating. The Doctor knelt down and calmly searched for the right vein in the crazed, spitting, brutal Time Lord's neck, cool fingers running over skin and veins. The Master howled and roared at him, thrashing harder in Jack's grip, just as the Doctor found the correct artery. He placed a firm hand on the Master's forehead and did his best to hold the other Time Lord's head in place and then he injected the syringe deep, squeezing out its contents and feeling the Master go weaker with every drop of the sedative. Finally, when the syringe was suitably empty, the Doctor slipped the needle out of the Master's neck and released his hold on his forehead, letting the psychopath's head loll to one side. Jack hesitated to get off of him, and the Doctor guided two fingers to the Master's neck to observe his pulse. "Look, Jack, he's asleep. He's calm now. You can get off of him."  
After another cautious moment, the Captain released the Master's wrists and slid off of him, slumped onto the floor next to the unconscious Time Lord's body. "How often does this happen?" he demanded darkly, not looking up at the Doctor. The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "It's happened a couple times before. Not like this, though. He's never had a weapon."  
"How did he get it?"  
"Broke a plate in the kitchen."  
"And you let him?"  
"It's not like there was anything I could do! I couldn't very well get it out of his hands - he was crazed! And I couldn't stop him from breaking the plate, because I was in my bedroom, minding my own business and reading."  
Jack sighed. He stood and grabbed Ianto's hand, tugging him to the TARDIS doors. "Go on, Ianto. Get back to Torchwood, tell them... tell them that I've had to go away for a while, but I'll be back. I always come back."  
"I'm not leaving," the teaboy insisted stubbornly. The Doctor didn't seem to notice their confrontation and instead looked down at the Master's unconscious body with a distant look on his face. Jack whirled Ianto around and gripped both of his biceps with enough force to leave bruises. Ianto winced, but didn't relent. "You have to go," Jack commanded.  
"I'm not leaving you two here."  
"Why the hell not?"  
"Because this is the Doctor. You're in love with the Doctor!"  
At this, the Doctor looked up, one eyebrow raised. Jack glanced behind him and then back to Ianto, giving him a warning look. "I'm not-" he began quite loudly before realizing his volume and dropping his voice considerably. "-I'm not in love with him, Ianto. He's a good friend."  
"You're in love with him. I can tell from the way you talk about him."  
"I don't talk about him!"  
"Yes, you do. When we're in bed, and you think I'm asleep. You go on and on about your adventures with him, Rose, Mickey."  
Jack's eyes flew open, and he knew Ianto was telling the truth. That was the only way he could know those names. "That's the only way I know about the Master," Ianto resumed, "because you talk."  
"You were supposed to be asleep."  
"I wasn't. And, you know what? I don't regret a single second. I loved listening to you talk, Jack, because you loved it, and you needed it. I'm not going."  
"It isn't safe for you, Yan."  
Ianto frowned. "When have you ever cared about my safety?"  
"What-?"  
"You throw me in dangerous situations every day, and just now you care about my safety?"  
"Ianto, I don't have a choice; it's our job!"  
The teaboy jerked away and marched back into the TARDIS to join the Doctor in looking down at the Master's body. The Doctor glanced at him, and then at Jack, and then his eyes fell back onto the Time Lord. "How long will this last?" Ianto wondered.  
"This dosage was stronger than the others I've had to use-"  
"'Others'?" Jack demanded with hostility. The Doctor didn't acknowledge he'd spoken and resumed.  
"-so he should be out for a couple hours. I'll get him to the infirmary. He may need restraints when he wakes."  
"We'll help," Ianto offered with a pointed glare back at Jack. The Captain rolled his eyes and shuffled over after closing the TARDIS doors. He bent down and made to wrap his fingers around the Master's ankles - to just drag him to the infirmary - but Ianto smacked his arm lightly and gave him a glare. "What the hell are you doing?" the Welshman demanded.  
"I'm taking him to the infirmary."  
"Not like that! Come on, Jack, help me lift him."  
"He doesn't deserve to be carried."  
"It doesn't matter what he deserves; it's what the Doctor wants. Come on," the teaboy urged. Jack sighed heavily and wrapped his hands around the Master's calves - perhaps too tight. Ianto hooked his arms underneath the Master's armpits, and the Doctor wrapped his arms around the Master's waist. On a count of three, they heaved him into the air and marched him to his room, looking like an odd funeral procession - without a casket.


	2. Chapter Two - Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some smut in this chapter... and our favorite Time Lords being problematic. Thanks for sticking through to Chapter Two, and happy holidays!

Ianto was wandering through the corridors, mulling over all the strangeness. A bigger on the inside spaceship, belonging to an alien called the Doctor - whom Jack was obviously in love with - and also home of a genocidal maniac? Sounds fun. He looked down at his trainers (he'd switched into more comfortable clothes, seeing as he would be here for a while and he wasn't exactly in a professional environment) and frowned when he heard some odd noises coming from a door in front of him. Ianto recognized the door as the one to the infirmary that he and the Doctor had visited earlier. He stepped a bit closer, trying to be as quiet as he could, until he realized what the noises were. He recognized them from his escapades with Jack. Out of curiosity, Ianto quickly stepped to the door and peered around the edge at the Doctor and the Master inside. The Master had his back to the teaboy, and the Doctor’s eyes were closed, so Ianto didn’t feel a need to pull back just yet. The Master had the Doctor sitting on the gurney, now, legs wrapped around the psychopath’s waist. The dominant Time Lord pounded into the Doctor as hard as he pleased, fingers digging into the flesh of the Doctor’s hips as the Doctor gripped the side of the gurney to keep himself anchored. Ianto felt blood rushing to his trousers and quickly ducked back behind the door and closed his eyes. He let out a breath and quickly scurried away, trying to block out the sounds of the Time Lords behind him.  
Soon enough, Ianto’s eye caught on the only open door in the corridor, so he made a beeline for it and wondered if this was the room that the TARDIS had set up for him. Jack had spoken about how strange the TARDIS was, about how she wasn’t just a machine; she was a living thing. He peered inside the room and grinned - it was his room in his flat. Sighing, he realized that he still had a hard-on, and he debated on whether he should seek out Jack to help him or if he should just handle it himself. Ianto blushed harder, feeling an uncomfortable heat underneath his collar. He hated himself for this. They shouldn’t have been doing that - the Time Lords. They shouldn’t have been having sex. Jack would be enraged! “He doesn’t need to know,” came a voice from the doorway. Ianto whirled around, his heart speeding up considerably, to find the Master leaning on his door jamb. The Time Lord looked calm, cool, and collected as ever, and was wearing a sharp black suit. There was no fire in his eyes - well, at least, not the fire that had been there earlier. “What?” Ianto stuttered. The Master grinned down at his shoes and then up at Ianto.  
“Your Captain Jack. He doesn’t need to know about the Doctor and I.”  
“He’ll be here in a few moments, you shouldn’t be-”  
“I’m not worried about him,” the Time Lord admitted softly. Ianto squirmed uncomfortably and looked around the room. “D’you… want to come in?”  
“I’d love to,” the Master purred with a grin. Moving with the grace of a cat, he stepped inside the room and sat down on the bed. He patted the bed next to him and looked up at Ianto with a sickly sweet smile, and Ianto did as he was told, sitting down next to the Master - but not too close.  
“Why?” he wondered.  
“Hm?”  
“I thought you hated the Doctor. Jack told me that you keep trying to kill him.”  
“If I wanted to kill him, he’d be dead. Your Girlie’s thick.”  
Ianto frowned in indignance and then heard Jack trotting down the hall and calling, “Ian-to!” in a sing-song tone. The teaboy glanced at the Master, dreading what would happen when Jack found the two of them in here, sitting on the bed. Alone together. When Ianto had a half-hard cock. Jack swung through the door, grinning, but his face fell when his eyes locked onto the Master. “What the hell are you-”  
“Don’t worry, Girlie, I’m just leaving,” the Master interrupted boredly. Before he left, however, he put a gentle, cool hand on Ianto’s thigh and leaned in close, so his lips brushed the Welshman’s ear. “Tell him if you like,” the Master whispered seductively. Ianto shivered - his breath was cool, and smelled of cinnamon and mint leaves. Jack stepped menacingly toward the Time Lord, but the Master just glared at him and stood, straightened his suit, strode confidently past Jack and out of the room. He’d purposely brushed shoulders with the Captain and flashed him a wicked smirk and then disappeared into the TARDIS. Ianto looked at Jack guiltily, his face burning with shame at what he wasn’t going to say. Jack glared down at him - not angry at Ianto, per say.  
“What did he say to you?”  
“Nothing,” Ianto lied. Jack stepped forward again.  
“What. Did. He. Say?”  
“I-I didn’t understand it. He spoke too softly - I couldn’t hear.”  
“Liar.”  
“Yeah.”  
Jack’s eyes flicked down to Ianto’s trousers, and then he perked one eyebrow in curiosity. Ianto felt himself blushing even harder as the Captain inquired, “Are you… are you hard?”  
The teaboy didn’t reply, which was answer enough.  
“What did he do.”  
“He didn’t do anything!” Ianto cried. Jack glared at him for a long moment and Ianto stared pleadingly back at him, until Jack sighed in aggravation. “Well?” he demanded.  
“What?”  
“D’you want me to take care of that for you, or are you just gonna let a perfectly good hard-on go to waste?”  
Ianto’s eyes were wide, like a deer in headlights, and he stood awkwardly and ducked his head. “If you don’t mind,” he mumbled. Jack smirked, trying his best to banish his bad attitude, and dropped to his knees, shuffled toward the teaboy. Ianto took a few steps forward to meet him in the middle and watched distantly as Jack unfastened his trousers and pulled them below his knees. Keeping Ianto's pants on, he ran his tongue up the bulge, making Ianto groan and buck his hips. "What got you hard?" Jack wondered before he went in for another swoop. Ianto snatched fistfuls of the hair on the back of his head and tried to banish the images of the Master slamming into the Doctor on top of that gurney.  
"Just - could we stop messing about, now?"  
"I like messing around with you, Yan," Jack grinned up at him, that perfect, charismatic smile... Ianto felt disgustingly guilty. The Captain obliged, hooking his fingers in Ianto's pants and yanking them down to free his cock. Running an experimental finger up the length, Jack grinned and chuckled lightly as Ianto's hips bucked and he nearly got an eyeful of the Welshman's cock. "Oh, come on, Jack!" Ianto groaned, half playful and half sincere. Jack ran his tongue up the shaft and then wrapped his lips around Ianto's cock, taking him in slowly. Ianto itched with the need to thrust his hips, but he decided to let the Captain have his fun - for now, at least. Jack took his sweet time in taking Ianto in all the way to the back of his throat, and then gently began bobbing his head, making the teaboy groan throatily. Jack slipped Ianto's cock out of his mouth and gently stroked, looking up at the teaboy. "You never answered my question," he observed. Ianto smiled weakly.  
"What was that, then?"  
"What got you hard?"  
He knew that Jack suspected the Master, and Ianto had a sneaking suspicion that Jack wouldn't give him what he wanted until he got an answer. "I was... daydreaming."  
Jack rewarded him by sucking on his cock for a few more moments before pulling away again. "Daydreaming?" he wondered seductively.  
"About you, obviously." Ianto severely hoped he wasn't blushing - but he wouldn't blame himself. All he could see in his mind's eye was the Doctor and the Master, and he hated himself for it. He hated himself for not telling Jack, and he hated himself for being hard.  
"What about me?" Jack wondered amicably, giving Ianto's cock an expert squeeze and then resuming to stroke it.  
"I was daydreaming about what would happen once you got here," the Welshman lied cunningly. He hated himself for lying to Jack.  
"Oh? Dirty Ianto. What, exactly, were you planning?"  
"Well... a bit of telly, snuggling, some kissing, maybe... and then perhaps things would've escalated?"  
"They still could."  
"Oh, really?" Ianto inquired sneakily, looking down at Jack with one eyebrow cocked. The Captain took his hand away from Ianto's cock and stood, pulled him into a brusque kiss, and then jumped onto the bed and wriggled out of his trousers. "Oh, Ianto, you sexy thing. Come on down here and fuck me," he commanded. Ianto raised an eyebrow and strode to the bed, carefully taking off his tie and beginning to unbutton his shirt. Jack wrestled himself out of his own shirt and raised to his knees to help Ianto, who just pushed him back down on the bed. "Patience is a virtue," he warned. Jack just laughed and spread his legs, hoping to arouse Ianto enough so that he would just hurry up.  
"Immortals don't need virtues."  
"Everyone needs virtues," Ianto commented mildly. Jack's plan of seduction was working quite well, but the teaboy concentrated on taking his time, and then slowly crawling onto the bed on top of the Captain. Jack whined playfully and yanked Ianto down to kiss him again, fumbling to reach for the lube in the drawer of the bedside table. Ianto carded through Jack's hair and gripped the handful he had hard when Jack began to apply the lube to his cock. When it was successfully coated, Ianto rolled over on the bed and Jack didn't need him to say what to do - he was straddling Ianto within seconds and positioning himself over the man's cock. Slowly, the Captain lowered himself down and impaled himself on Ianto's hard-on, and then began moving, sliding himself up the shaft and then back down again, grunting in time with Ianto's moans. He felt the mortal's soft hands graze his thighs and then move up to his hips, felt his hips twitching underneath him. Jack placed one hand over Ianto's heart and kept the other on the headboard to keep his balance. The beating heart reminded Jack just how fragile and ephemeral Ianto was - reminded Jack how short of a lifetime he had, and reminded Jack to treasure him and make the most out of the time they had together. So, naturally, he fucked himself on Ianto's cock harder, fingernails digging into the flesh of the teaboy's chest and arching his back. Ianto groaned and Jack felt the teaboy's perfectly manicured, clean fingernails biting into his hips, sometimes raking down his thighs before resuming their previous position. "Oh God, Ianto..." Jack moaned, somehow going even harder. Ianto figured out something useful to do with his hands - he squeezed his Captain's cock and stroked it in time to the movement of Jack's hips, making him emit a deep, low, throaty groan.  
Jack came just moments before Ianto did, the clenching of muscles bringing the teaboy over the edge, so he could come inside of Jack. With Jack's own climax spattered across his chest, Ianto leaned his head back and his hands dropped to the bed as Jack sat on top of him for a moment before slipping off. "You like to wear me out, don't you?" Ianto panted, shining with sweat and completely content. Jack chuckled and slipped out of the bed to fetch a damp rag from the bathroom connected to Ianto's bedroom. When he returned, he wiped Ianto down thoroughly and then gave himself a quick once-over. Ianto hummed appreciation and let his eyes drift closed. "It's worth it, isn't it?" Jack wondered.  
Ianto nodded appreciatively, keeping his eyes closed. Jack grinned and pulled Ianto closer to him, wrapped the teaboy in his arms. Ianto turned onto his side, so he was facing the door, and let Jack spoon against him. He listened to Jack's breathing slow and listened to his lover fall asleep, and then felt a piercing pair of eyes on him. Ianto - telling himself that he was just being paranoid - slowly opened his eyes to find the Master staring at him from the doorway. Ianto reminded himself to always trust his instincts and tried to not jump and wake Jack.  
"How long have you been there?" Ianto demanded in a whisper, painfully aware of how naked he was. The Master grinned at him.  
"Long enough."  
"How much did you see?"  
"Oh, I came in about halfway," the Time Lord purred. Ianto felt the blush spreading down his neck. "What are you doing here? This isn't your room," Ianto informed him, a bit scared of the psychopath. He'd seen how the Master looked when he'd first gotten here - although that Master looked and acted drastically different than the Master before him. The Master shrugged and looked at the door itself. "Door was open. I was wandering through the TARDIS, minding my own business, when I heard you lot making a racket in here and decided to enjoy a show when one's provided to me. Unlike what you did when you stumbled upon me and the idiot."  
"He's not an idiot, and of course not! Why would I watch? That's disgusting."  
"It's fun."  
"That's pretty much pornography."  
"Yes, and?" the Master demanded indignantly. He sighed and winced, but it only lasted for a split second. Ianto frowned. "What's wrong?"  
"I haven't the slightest idea of what you mean."  
"You're in pain."  
"No, I'm not."  
"You winced."  
"My head is none of your business, thanks very much," the Master snarled. He turned on his heel and stormed off, making Ianto ease out of Jack's arms, snatch up a bathrobe from the floor, slip it on, and run after the Time Lord. "Master!" Ianto called after he shut the door to his bedroom. The Master didn't stop, so Ianto had to catch up with him. He put a hand on the Master's shoulder to slow him down, but that proved to be his first mistake. The Time Lord snatched Ianto's hand, wrenched his arm painfully, and slammed him against the wall faster than a snake. Ianto could smell his breath - cinnamon and mint leaves. The maniac's eyes were full of fire as he leaned in close and hissed, "I'm none of your business."  
Ianto opened his mouth to reply, and that was his second mistake. The Master lunged forward and mashed their mouths together with the clicking of teeth. He bit down on Ianto's lip and slipped his tongue into the teaboy's mouth. Ianto's third mistake was liking it.


	3. Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok so heed the warnings. There's some more smut in this chapter, dub-con, hypnosis, et cetera. Thanks for reading this far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Happy New Year!

After their ‘encounter’, the Master simply grinned at Ianto and strode away with his hands in his pockets. The teaboy was left dumbfounded and hating himself again. 

Weeks on the TARDIS never seemed like weeks. They seemed like only hours had gone by. Jack told him that this was because the TARDIS was a time machine, and all of the clocks were broken. Time didn’t matter when you were drifting out into space anyways - and the humans had no idea how to read the Doctor’s clocks. They would have trouble even if they weren’t broken. All of the clocks were Time Lord clocks, so, naturally, they were infinitely more unique and complicated than either of them would fathom. Captain Jack and Ianto stayed together most of the time, just wandering to see what they could find. So far, they’d enjoyed themselves in several kitchens, an arcade, three pool rooms, and a massive theater so far - a theater in which all the performers were hard-light holograms to put a show on for them. Periodically, Ianto wondered about the team, and why Jack hadn’t called them yet, but he reminded himself to just enjoy himself on this rather rare break he got, and he figured he deserved it. This morning - rather, when Ianto had woken up - Jack wasn’t next to him in bed, and had left no note. Not that Ianto had expected one. 

Throughout the day, there was no sign of Jack. Ianto knew that he was still in the TARDIS; perhaps he just needed some time alone. Most of Ianto hoped that he wouldn’t bump into the Master by chance, but another, darker part of Ianto desperately hoped he did. “Bollocks,” Ianto murmured to himself. He looked up from his trainers and found the door to the infirmary in front of him, leaking shouts, screams, and the clatter of metal. Glass smashing. The Doctor shouting to just “Calm down!”, and then the flat, sharp sound of metal crashing against the wall. Ianto knew that the Doctor had been handling the Master for long enough, and his curiosity was winning out. He peered around the corner at the Doctor and the Master in the infirmary. The Master was keeping a gurney between he and the Doctor, who had his hands out in front of him and was frantically trying to calm the Master down. The psychopath was baring his teeth at the Doctor, screaming at him, throwing things at him. “Don’t touch me!” the maniac shrieked. The Doctor tried to inch closer and was rewarded by having a metal tray thrown at his head - which he nimbly dodged. “Master, you need to calm down!” the Doctor cried, dodging a hurled bottle of pills. 

“I’m not taking your fucking medicine!”

“We’ve been doing this for months!”

“Doesn’t mean I like it!”

The Doctor was inching closer to the Master and ducking out of the way of the Master’s torrent of medical equipment as Ianto burst in, ready to help. “Doctor?” he called, keeping his eye on the terrified Master. 

Ianto’s heart nearly stopped. How had he not known? The Master was terrified! Now that Ianto was paying attention, he could see the fear in the mad Time Lord’s eyes, that he was throwing things in self defense. The Welshman figured that the Doctor knew this, too, and was doing this for the Master’s benefit and protection. The Doctor glanced at Ianto before leaping out of the way of a chamber pot, which smashed against the wall just inches from Ianto’s head. “Get out of here!” the Doctor commanded. Before the Master could react, the lanky Time Lord vaulted over a gurney and tore his newly acquired glass beaker out of his hands. The Master thrashed and scrambled to get away, but the Doctor knocked him down and pinned him face-down to the ground, sat on his thighs and held his wrists down. In some part of his mind, Ianto knew that he should leave - the Doctor told him to leave. He was rooted to the spot, watching the procession as the Doctor brought the Master’s hands next to his hips and held them down with his knobby knees, and then the Doctor fumbled with a bottle of pills and dumped three or four into the palm of his hand. “Open your mouth, Master. Just give up! These won’t hurt you!” the Doctor pleaded. 

“I don’t want those near me!” the Master snarled, a bit winded. The Doctor sighed to himself and reached down to put his hand in front of the Master’s mouth, which was kept firmly closed. “I’ll force you if I need to, but I don’t want to, Master. It’s best if you just relent. These are to help you, I promise!” the Doctor tried one last time. The Master didn’t even open his mouth to answer, but dropped his head so that his forehead rested flat against the cool concrete and shook his head vigorously. The Doctor’s face showed his regret for what he was about to do, but he didn’t exactly have a choice. He looked over his shoulder at Ianto and advised, “If you’re gonna just stand there, at least make yourself useful.”

Ianto nodded and ran over, knelt beside the two Time Lords. “What do I do?” he wondered. The Doctor nodded down at the Master, who was still shaking his head. “Hold his head back, please.”

The Welshman hesitated for a moment, and then gently placed his hands on either side of the Master’s head and began lifting it, exposing his mouth. The Master thrashed against him, and Ianto had no better hold than to take a fistful of the Master’s hair and tug as gently as he could. The Time Lord stopped wriggling and just whimpered and kept his mouth firmly closed as the Doctor used a hand to try and coax it open. “Master, please…” the Doctor pleaded gently. He obviously was taking as much pleasure in this as the Master was, although the Doctor wasn’t crying. He reached down and forcibly pried the Master’s lips apart and, as quick as he could, he jammed the pills inside and then closed the Master’s mouth, kept it closed, and held the Time Lord’s nose shut. The Master flailed for breath and, in his panic, swallowed the Doctor’s medication and went limp when he realized what he’d done. The Doctor slowly got off of him and dismissed Ianto, sat beside his fellow Time Lord. Ianto stood and shuffled toward the door, but didn’t leave completely. He wanted to see what would happen next, and so he did. 

The Doctor reached down and ran his long fingers through the Master’s hair, and that seemed to calm the other Time Lord a bit, and the Doctor spoke in soft tones. “If you wouldn’t fight me so much, Master…”

The Master tensed again and turned so that his back was facing the Doctor and he was curled in a tight ball. “Get out,” he growled, his voice a bit muffled. The Doctor didn’t obey. He leaned back against the cupboards behind him and continued playing with the other Time Lord’s hair. “You don’t understand,” he whispered, “we’re the only two left. We’ve got to look out for each other.”

“By force-feeding each other useless anti-psychotics?”

“That’s for your own good,” the Doctor snapped, his tone just a tiny bit more harsh. 

“It’s for your good. You just can’t stand the idea of the rest of eternity stuck in your time machine with a psychopath, can you?”

“How’s your head?” the Doctor inquired instantly. The Master didn’t reply, and the Doctor smirked triumphantly. He glanced up at Ianto, who was still standing there, while the Doctor let his fingers wander through the Master’s hair, and the Master didn’t stop him. “You’re still here?” the Doctor wondered. The Master’s eyes snapped open and he glared venomously at the teaboy, who backed away instinctively. “Sorry, I just-”

“You don’t have to tell Jack about this,” the Doctor ordered. It wasn’t a suggestion. Ianto knew why he shouldn’t tell Jack, but he wanted to hear the Doctor say it. “Why not?”

“You know why.”

“Tell me.”

“Because he doesn’t need to know, that’s why. Go on, get out,” the Doctor advised. Ianto knew that the Time Lord hosted no ill feelings toward him, so he turned on his heel and hurried out of the infirmary. 

 

If Ianto was honest, the Master was scaring him. Ianto found himself alone a lot of the time - Jack was busy with the Doctor, so Ianto just wandered the corridors by himself. Except, sometimes he wasn’t by himself. He would feel eyes on him and then turn until he found the Master, leaning out of a room and staring at him obsessively. Ianto ducked his head and hurried past the Master, and the Master never bothered to follow him physically, just kept his eyes glued to Ianto’s back until he was out of sight. 

Today, however, Ianto was properly scared. This time, when the Master had stuck his head out of a room and stared at him, he hadn’t stayed in the same place when Ianto passed him. After a few moments of staring at Ianto’s back, the Master stepped out of the room and followed him. The Welshman tried walking faster, glancing behind him every few moments, but the Master matched his pace, keeping behind him. Ianto considered yelling for help, but he didn’t know if anyone was around. Or if they would hear him. He thought the Master was still behind him when he felt a hand clamping around the back of his neck and another hand wrapping over his mouth, muffling his surprised cries. The Master held him there for a moment, looking around, before shoving open the door to a supply closet and pushing Ianto inside. When the Master closed the door behind the both of them, it was just dark. Ianto could hear his heart quite clearly, thumping away with fear. His breath seemed to be louder than the rumble of thunder in those few, precious, petrifying moments of terror before the Master turned on the light. When he did, the panic only grew. The Master’s face was stretched into a grotesque, giddy grin as he loomed over Ianto, who he’d thrown onto the dirty floor of the small cupboard. “Master, what-”

“Bad people deserve to be punished.”

“Like you?” Ianto managed, trying to squeeze the fear out of his voice. The Master laughed and dropped to one knee, staring at Ianto like a hyena stares at its dinner. “I am being punished. I’ve got to spend the rest of eternity locked in this prison with that idiot, the Doctor. He forces me to take medication to expel the drums against my will, and he expects me to do all the work when we have sex. This is punishment enough for my crimes.”

“What-what were my crimes?”

“You helped him. You helped him force those-those toxins into my body. You held me still while he stuffed me full of poison.”

“It’s not poison; he’s just trying to help you, Master.”

“Quiet,” the Master hissed, driving Ianto back against the wall. He pulled back, scowling deeply. “It’s poison. And you must get your punishment for your crimes.”

“What’s my punishment?”

The Master grinned brightly, again, eyes shining. Ianto’s heart dropped into his stomach and he felt as if he was going to vomit. He felt the Time Lord’s hand reach out to touch his face, run along his jawline, run over his lips. “Master, don’t do this. Please… you really don’t want to…”

“Why don’t I? I think this is quite fun!”

Ianto spluttered to come up with another answer, to persuade the madman to not do whatever he was planning - although Ianto had an idea of what that might be. The Master looked down at him expectantly, waiting for Ianto to say something. “I’ll tell the Doctor, and Jack. If you know Jack, you know that he’s already itching to kill you. Touch me, and he’ll put a bullet through your head. You know that.”

“Yes, I do. If you tell him, he would, that is.”

“Well, I’m gonna, unless you let me go right now,” Ianto commanded, trying to be as brave as he could. For all his faults, Ianto wasn’t stupid. He knew full well who the Master was, what he was capable of. He knew that he wouldn’t escape this cupboard without a fight - and he also knew that he would never breathe a word to the Doctor or Jack, although he wasn’t quite sure why. The Master grinned down at him and wrapped his hand round Ianto’s arm, hauled him to his feet. The supply closet was tiny; the two men were nearly pressed together. Ianto could smell the Master’s breath - cinnamon and mint leaves. He was so close… before Ianto knew it, the Master’s lips were on his, and that cinnamon smell was overwhelming. The mint leaves scent washed over Ianto, dulled his senses just a bit. When the Master pulled away, the human gasped, eyes half-lidded. “You’re not going to tell Jack and the Doctor,” the Master purred breathily, unzipping his trousers with one hand and keeping the other on the back of Ianto’s neck - a simple, commanding gesture. Ianto found himself unable to answer, unable to speak. The Master looked at him with hypnotic eyes, dark with lust, and finished shoving his trousers down, slipped a hand inside his pants to palm himself quickly. “Do you know why?” the Time Lord whispered in Ianto’s ear. His hand on the back of Ianto’s neck moved to his shoulder and forced the human to his knees and his fingers twined around the hair on the back of Ianto’s neck. “Because you won’t want to. You’ll be too ashamed at the fact that you sucked my cock. Willingly.”

Ianto watched the Master pull his hand out of his pants and coax the human’s mouth open and he found himself drifting toward the Master’s cock, mouth hanging half-open. He felt the Master’s soothing hand massaging the back of his head, silently egging him on: go on, do it, you know you want to. And Ianto did; he really, truly did want to. The scent of cinnamon was beginning to burn his nostrils, the mint leaf aroma was making his eyes water. A drowsy feeling came over him and he jerked forward to sloppily take the Master’s length into his mouth, all the way up to the back of his throat. His nose was squished against the Master’s stomach, chin brushing his balls as he tried to pull back, but he found the Master’s hand pinning him in place, a low groan rising out of his throat. Ianto gagged and tried to pull back, began flailing until he heard the Master’s husky, commanding voice, “Breathe through your nose.”

Reluctantly, the teaboy obeyed, and tried not to squirm as the Master began slowly, brutally thrusting. The human could feel the tip of the Master’s cock brushing against his throat, and - when he thrusted especially sharply - it drove hard into the back of his throat, making him gag and cry out. The Master consoled him by gently carding a hand through his hair and encouraging him on. “That’s it,” he would grunt appreciatively, “you’re doing a good job. Don’t worry, pet.”

Ianto wasn’t worried. 

 

The Master came down Ianto’s throat, burying himself deep first and ejaculating with a low, throaty groan. Ianto was allowed to pull back, off of the Master’s cock, and cough and splutter on the Master’s seed before he could swallow. It tasted sweet, like honey. Time Lords were odd creatures, he thought. The Time Lord tucked himself away, fastened his trousers and knelt down in front of the human, slumped on the floor - sweaty, out of breath, tired. The Time Lord put two fingers under Ianto’s chin, lifted his head up to get a better look at his face. “Oh yes, I believe this will work out quite nicely,” he observed, grinning. He let Ianto’s head drop and stood, straightened his suit, pulled open the cupboard door and strode outside - the powerful scent of cinnamon and mint leaves leaving with him. “Don’t be ashamed, pet,” he called over his shoulder, “I’m sure the Doctor and your precious whore won’t see you any differently.”

Ianto was ashamed.


	4. The Poolhouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Definite rape/non con and implied domestic violence. Heed the warnings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the start of the plot, haha. Hope you enjoy!

Jack bounced alongside the Doctor, trying to brighten their moods. The Doctor gave him a halfhearted smile - but Jack had to give him some credit for trying. "I hope the Master's alright..." the Doctor murmured, his face falling as he tucked his hands in his pockets and looked down at his trainers. The Captain stopped himself from frowning and gave a good-hearted shrug. "I'm sure he's fine, Doctor. You don't need to worry about him. He can't be with you all the time, can he?"

"No, but-"

"We're gonna have fun, you hear? You deserve some fun," Jack insisted. The Doctor shrugged and pushed open the door to the wardrobe. "Your clothes should still be in here," he informed the human. "From when you went travelling with me."

"Right. Thanks," Jack said with a cheeky grin. He ducked into the wardrobe and searched around until he found all of his old clothes and grimaced at his fashion sense - or lack thereof - back then. After a few moments of rifling through some vests, he found his old trunks, stripped, and pulled the trunks up. He examined himself closely in the mirror and sighed. There wasn't much else he could work with at this moment, unless... he banished the dirty fantasies from his mind. Not right now, he told himself. The Doctor needed him.

When he resurfaced, the Doctor had his great, long coat hanging over him, held together with crossed arms. Jack grinned at him and they padded through the corridors until they found one of the pool rooms, where Jack immediately jumped into the comfortably warm pool and began swimming around. After a few moments, he realized that the Doctor had no intention of joining him. The Captain swam to the edge of the pool and looked up at the Doctor imploringly. "What's wrong? Aren't you coming in?"

"Erm... not right now, I think. I'll just-just sit over here."

That wasn't like the Doctor. When Jack travelled with him, he loved going for a swim! The human lifted himself out of the pool and approached the Doctor. "What're you talking about?" he begged. "Come on and join me! You'll love it, I promise."

"I don't-"

"You need to have some fun!" Jack chided, grasping at the Doctor's coat. The Time Lord only clutched it harder, panic filling his eyes, and Jack just wanted to get it off and see what he was hiding. He pretended to let go and gave the Doctor enough time to relax his arms a bit, and then Jack ripped it open, eyes instantly scanning the Doctor for injuries.

And boy, did he have some.

As the Time Lord frantically tried to claw his coat out of Jack's grip, Jack looked up at him with fire in his eyes. He kept a firm hold on one side of the coat and reached for the Doctor's chest with the other, gently running his fingers over the small cuts that looked like they were in the shape of fingernails. As the Doctor's resistance weakened, Jack glowered at the bruises that he desperately hoped weren't bite marks - although there was no denying it - on his collarbone, shoulders, less-prominent ones on his neck; probably so that no questions would be raised. Jack's eyes fell lower, to the Doctor's hips. The trunks that the Doctor wore didn't cover up everything - although they were very prude, Jack thought. He could see dark, painful-looking bruises peeking over the top, and he dropped to his knees. Forbidding his mind to think of other ways this scenario could be going, he pulled the legs of the trunks up just enough to see more bruising and bite marks, but low enough to keep the Doctor's privacy. He felt the fire boiling in his stomach at the same time that he wanted to vomit. Jack glared up at the Doctor darkly. "What the hell are these," he demanded, his voice coming out as a hostile growl. The Doctor blushed heavily and didn't meet Jack's eyes. 

"Doctor."

The Time Lord didn't reply, didn't even move. Jack wasn't sure he was still breathing. Sometimes, it astonished him about how little he knew about the Doctor. 

"Doctor."

"What, Jack."

"What the fuck are these?"

"Please don't-"

"Doctor, my swearing is the least of your concerns right now. Tell me what these are right now," Jack commanded, gripping the Doctor's thighs tighter - until he realized that his hands were right over a matching set of bruises that were already in the warped shape of handprints. The Doctor winced, and Jack instantly let go of his thighs, instead standing and looking up right into the Doctor's averted eyes. The Time Lord remained silent.

"Who did this to you," Jack demanded with hostility, although he knew exactly who. This could be the handiwork of only one other person in the Universe, and Jack thought he was going to vomit right there and then. He could feel it working up his throat - but instead of undigested food, the feeling went straight to his eyes and Jack didn't fight back the tears. The Doctor needed to see how much this hurt him. Of course, the Doctor wasn't seeing much of anything, because he had his eyes closed and was obviously fighting the urge to burst into sobs. Jack instantly became gentler, reaching out a hand to touch the Doctor's, but the Time Lord flinched away. The human reached out again and took the Doctor's hand in his, his touch staying soft, to let the Doctor know how much he cared. The Doctor shook his head and tried to pull his hand away, drenched in self-disgust.

 

He knew that he wasn't worthy of Jack. He didn't deserve a friend like this human, who he'd wronged so many times. The Doctor didn't want the human to touch his dirty, filthy skin, so he pulled away, but that only made Jack hold his hand tighter. The Doctor never would understand humans. 

He couldn't bring himself to look into Jack's eyes, to see all the pain that he'd caused the man. So, he focused his eyes on a imperfection in the linoleum on the poolside. "Doctor," he heard Jack murmur. The Time Lord couldn't force any words out of his throat and wished Jack would just leave him alone to wallow in self-pity. He wished Jack would just take his lover and run out of this TARDIS, run away as fast as their legs could carry them and never stop running. Now, the Doctor realized with sinking hearts, Jack would never leave. 

"Doctor," Jack repeated, his voice stronger and more commanding. The Doctor begrudgingly met his eyes and resisted the urge to burst into tears, despite the strong, uncomfortable sensation welling up in the back of his throat. Jack already had tears streaking down his cheeks - which, of course, didn't help the Doctor any. "Jack, I'm sorry. It doesn't mean-"

"Don't you dare apologize to me," Jack ordered darkly, his lip wobbling. "This isn't your fault, Doctor. It's him. It's always been him, and you've always blamed yourself."

The Doctor thought it was best to not reply and let Jack continue. "But it's not you, it's him. He did this to you, didn't he?"

"Yes, but I-"

"He forced himself on you, didn't he?"

The Doctor averted his eyes again and felt Jack's hand tighten around his. "Didn't he?" the Captain insisted. 

"N-"

"Of course he did." The human was obviously in denial. He didn't want to think that the Doctor was cocked-up enough to let the Master defile him. 

"Jack, he didn't-"

"And you fought, didn't you? But he's stronger than you. He won, didn't he? And you had no choice but to let it happen, and it wasn't your fault."

The Doctor sensed that Jack had the intentions to continue, but he quickly shook the human's hand off of him and stopped slumping. Jack needed to face reality, no matter how awful it was. "Jack, listen. Are you listening?" he demanded. Jack slowly nodded. 

"I'm going to tell you something, but you've got to listen. He didn't... he didn't rape me, Jack. He didn't force himself on me. Well, at first, I suppose you could call it that... but I let him in the end, Jack. Alright? I let him. From then on, it just happened. He would come to me, or I would come to him, or we would both meet in the middle." The Doctor didn't want to say anything more, but he forced himself to continue. "On the console - multiple times - my bed, his bed, the kitchens, pools, the library, the archives, the corridors, the walls..."

When Jack looked like he was about to vomit, that's when the Doctor stopped. At least Jack was getting the picture. The human looked pale and ghostly, and the Doctor could see his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. He couldn't even speak as the Doctor just looked down at him, praying that Jack would be so disgusted that he would just leave and run far, far away. He considered adding more detail when Jack didn't start running. After a few moments of silence, the Doctor acted.

"We've had sex so many times, Jack. D'you know what he likes?" 

The Doctor hated himself; he sounded like the Master.

"He likes teeth. He likes to bite me. He likes - he likes to... he likes to hurt me, Jack. I like it when he hurts me, did you know?" the Doctor inquired, choking back vomit himself. He hated himself, and it looked like Jack did, as well. His face was red, he looked like he was about to sock the Doctor in the nose. Before he could react like that, however, Jack sprinted off into the TARDIS, and the Doctor was left there, standing alone in the pool and finally letting tears drip out of his eyes. He heard a soft voice behind him and didn't even startle, didn't turn to look at the speaker because he knew exactly what the speaker looked like. 

"Well done!"

"Don't talk to me."

"Why not? You deserve a reward."

"Because it's disgusting. What we do is disgusting."

"Oh, you're just being modest. You told him yourself, you like it when I hurt you."

"Not right now."

"Right now is the perfect time! Come on, Doctor. I'll make it quick."

"No."

Gentle hands slipped over his hips, but the Doctor didn't want to give the Master the satisfaction of seeing the Doctor jerk away and remained stock still. He felt the Master press against him from behind and begin to pry off the Doctor's long coat. "Did you show him the marks on your back? He would've loved to see those bruises I put there. What about the marks on my back? What about those, Doctor?"

The Master successfully slipped the Doctor's coat off and let it drop to the floor of the pool house and then ran his hands up the Doctor's back, gently massaging - pressing harder on all the bruises. The Doctor hissed, but didn't flinch away. He refused to give the Master what he wanted. "We should show Jack the marks that you put on my back, shouldn't we? From when you came so hard, you dug bloody gashes in my back with your fingernails - remember that? Oh, I do." The Master stood up taller and stood so close that his lips brushed against the Doctor's neck. "Wanna do it again?"

Now, the Doctor harshly shoved him off and began storming toward the exit, until he found the Master's fingers closing around his bicep. Before he knew it, the Doctor was being flung into the air and landed with a splash in the pool. Sound thickened and dulled around him, but the Doctor didn't have the energy to move. He floated to the bottom of that pool and laid there, looking up at the lights, twisting and whirling in his wake, bubbles rising to the top of the pool and then disappearing. The Doctor liked to appreciate these precious moments of peace. Either that or he was just... empty. He heard someone wading toward him in the pool, the dark swoosh of the water around his ears, and then he was hauled out just as his respiratory bypass system had to kick in. He was bent over the poolside and he felt the Master yanking down his trunks, but he didn't fight. How could he fight? He didn't have near enough energy, but he didn't want this happening right now. He felt the Master's cock press at the tip of his entrance, no preparation or anything. The Doctor could do nothing to fight back, so he just prepared himself for the pain and rested his cheek on the linoleum. The Master entered him with one sharp, hard thrust, and made the Doctor grunt from the pain. From there, the Master continued thrusting deep and hard, closing fingers over the Doctor's hips and slamming into him as hard as he pleased. The Doctor let out a sob and wound his fingers in his own hair, pulling and pulling to the point of where he thought he would tear out chunks of his hair, but he didn't care. He told himself that he deserved it and kept sobbing openly and loudly as the Master pounded into him. "Tell me that you deserve this," the psychopath grunted into his ear. The Doctor couldn't speak through the sobs and felt the Master take a fistful of his hair and yank.

"Tell me," the maniac commanded darkly. The Doctor nodded, squeezed his eyes shut, and managed to whimper, "I deserve this... I deserve it... I deserve it..."

"Yes, you do," the Master grunted, somehow pounding harder. "Fuck," he hissed as he gripped the Doctor's hips tighter. The Doctor cried onto the linoleum as the Master came right inside of him and settled there for a moment, panting complacently. "Wasn't that fun?" the psychopath breathed as he pulled out of the Doctor and waded backwards. The sobbing Time Lord didn't have the energy to keep himself upright, so he nearly fell back into the water before the Master caught him and hefted him up onto the concrete. "Don't say I'm not nice to you," he laughed as he dropped the Doctor onto the rough stone of the pool side. The maniac lifted himself out of the pool and sauntered toward his suit, which was neatly discarded on a pool chair, but he grimaced at some wet spots and sighed dramatically. "Well, it's ruined now, isn't it?" he muttered to himself, instead just striding confidently out of the pool house, bare naked and laughing loudly. 

The Doctor stayed on the concrete for a long time - he wasn't quite sure how long - just sobbing until his stomach hurt, making no sound because he was crying so hard. His entire body shook, his face ached from the effort of squeezing his eyes shut so hard, but he couldn't stop. He couldn't help it. He couldn't even stop when he ran out of tears and he just lay there in a ball, convulsing with the force of his sobs. 

 

Ianto was on his bed, delving into a book. He was still shaken from what had happened earlier, but he decided that the best thing was to focus on something else until he could go to sleep, and then he would sleep on it and wake up better in the morning. 

Now, however, Jack burst through the door of his room and collapsed on the ground before he could even reach Ianto. The teaboy tossed his book onto the bed and ran to Jack's side. "What's wrong?" he demanded, wrapping his arms around his lover. The Captain didn't respond, just shook his head and sobbed into his suit, and all Ianto could do was rub his back and whisper, "It's alright, Jack. I'm here for you."

Jack stayed there for a moment before instinctively pulling away, as if he was remembering that he was supposed to be the strong one. He wiped his eyes and sat back on the floor while Ianto felt a little bit colder for the lack of his lover in his arms. "It's just... you've got to leave, Ianto. You've got to get as far away from here as you can," Jack replied, his eyes growing wide and his voice filling with panic. Ianto reached out for him, but Jack pulled away and jumped to his feet, making the teaboy stand as well. "You have to leave," Jack insisted fearfully.

"Jack, tell me what happened."

"Promise me you'll leave here. Promise me."

"I can't. You know I can't make that promise. What happened?"

"If you won't leave, just tell me that you'll stay as far away from him as possible," Jack demanded, ignoring Ianto's question. Perhaps, Ianto thought, he may not want to answer.

"Who?" Ianto asked gently. "The Master?"

"Yes, the Master! He's toxic, Ianto, and you've gotta stay away from him! You hear me?"

"Jack, I was never-"

"Promise me!"

Ianto desperately forbade himself to blush at the thought of what he willingly did to the Master and choked out a response to Jack. "Al-alright, I promise. What's gotten into you, Jack? What's happened?"

"It's him, Yan. It's the Master."

"What's he done?"

Jack looked at Ianto wide-eyed, imploringly, silently begging him. For what? Ianto didn't have time to wonder before Jack lunged forward, took his head in his hands, and kissed the Welshman for a long time before tearing their lips apart and wrapping his arms tight around Ianto. He could barely breathe, but he reciprocated the suffocating embrace the best he could, trying to silently tell Jack how much he cared - and that he was safe here. He would always be safe here.


	5. The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut (there's a double orgasm!!). Also, this chapter is pretty long. Thank you for reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tiny bit of dubcon, but there's a lot of fluff so it makes up for the smut. Have some cuteness, after that last chapter. Also, a lot of this is supposed to be in italics… but I'm not quite sure how to make words italic XD

Maybe it was weeks, maybe months. Ianto couldn't quite tell. Jack clung to him these days, trying to act like everything was okay, and he was good at it. It seemed that everyone onboard this bloody ship was an A-list actor when it came to mental health. The two men would walk through the TARDIS and see the sights, holding hands, perhaps one's arm slipped around the other's waist. So far, their favorite places to be were the library, the observatory, the museum, and the Doctor's "attic" of sorts, where he stashed all of his "junk" or discarded items from across the cosmos. When they longed to be outside, they visited the beach or the forest that the Doctor had inside his infinite ship; the TARDIS never ceased to amaze Ianto and Jack. Right now, Jack and Ianto were in a treehouse that the TARDIS had built for them. Jack was sound asleep, head resting against Ianto’s shoulder and looking more peaceful than he had in their entire trip on board the TARDIS. As the teaboy looked down at his Captain, he noticed creases and lines in his face that weren’t there before. He seemed older, and it reminded Ianto of just how amaranthine he was, how he would live so much longer than Ianto, and how easily he could forget him. Yes, Captain Jack Harkness had more important things to remember than this impermanent teaboy. 

As Jack began to snore lightly - that adorable, snuffling little snore that Ianto found precious but would never tell Jack to his face in fear of an even more adorable pout - Ianto heard someone singing his name from outside the treehouse. His head perked up and he looked around, but no one made themselves known. Ianto was fairly certain of who it was, but he dreaded the thought - he wanted nothing to do with the Master after that last trick he’d pulled. Again, the voice came, soft as the wind, “Ian-to…”

He didn’t want to wake Jack, and he didn’t want to see the Master, so he stayed put and wrapped his arms just that much tighter around his Captain - not tight enough to stir him, but just enough so that he could protect him. How, Ianto had no idea, but he supposed it was just that instinct that Jack was always saying was “so human”. 

“Ian-to!” the name was sung. He felt chills spread down his back, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was soft enough so that it wouldn’t wake Jack, but also just enough to make Ianto want to vomit. 

"Iann-to..."

Finally the teaboy slipped away from Jack - who barely stirred - laid his Captain's head on his greatcoat, and slowly tiptoed out of the treehouse. He'd barely even gotten out of the door when he felt an arm across his neck and was slammed against the wall. He found it hard to breathe as the Master slowly increased the pressure on his windpipe until the teaboy's eyes were bulging out of his skull and he gasped like a fish out of water. All of this happening in an instant, he felt the pressure gently relieving and a thigh thrust between his legs. He groaned and wheezed for air as the Master leaned in close, his lips nearly brushing the human's ear. "I had fun that day," he murmured seductively. Ianto trembled when he felt the warm breath, although the smell of cinnamon and mint leaves was no longer overpowering. He felt just fine.

The psychopath pulled back a bit, his thigh pressing insistently against Ianto's crotch. He flailed for purchase and found himself grasping at the Master's tie and accidentally yanking him closer. The maniac chuckled and licked his lips; Ianto felt like a fly trapped in his smile. "I didn't know you wanted it that much," he groaned mockingly. He carded his fingers through Ianto's soft hair and leaned close again. "See," he began softly, making an effort to remain quiet and not wake the Captain, "that last time I used just a bit of hypnosis. Would you like to go again, by yourself?"

Ianto swallowed and found himself hot under the collar, breathing heavily, his cock felt suddenly hard. The Master caused increasing friction on him and didn't stop until Ianto was squirming and mewling lightly, and then the Time Lord lowered his thigh and sunk his teeth into Ianto's neck. The teaboy found a cry of pain caught in his throat, but he only wanted to shout out of shock. Once he got accustomed to it, the Master wasn't biting hard enough to bring blood, only a slight pinch. "Or..." he murmured once he pulled back, "we could go all the way this time. The whole nine yards, yeah? You would like that, wouldn't you? I would enjoy that, too. And..."

The Master jerked forward and kissed the human. His lips were soft and he tasted faintly of lemon - but a good, sweet lemon taste. Ianto felt himself falling into the kiss and then the Master's forehead pressed against his and he was looking out of someone else's eyes.

The Master was kneeling between her legs, grinning wickedly and flicking his tongue across his lips. He leaned down and pressed his lips to the inside of her thigh-

Ianto's thigh jerked and he could feel the Master's lips against his skin. He could see the scene laid out in front of him, could feel everything that the girl felt, but he knew he was in the same place outside the treehouse. 

 

-and she giggled happily, long fingers reaching down to brush across his face. The Time Lord looked up at her with a glint in his eyes and then abruptly licked her clit-

 

Ianto gasped and felt the Master's hand clamp over his mouth, heard him whisper, "Sssh, now, or I won't give you the rest..."

 

-she bucked her hips and whined for him. "Master," she gasped. He chuckled and licked it a second, third, fourth time and then gasped as he sucked hard and bit down on the tender flesh, pulled away before releasing it-

 

He could hardly stop himself from moaning. The Master laughed and reached into his pants to grasp his cock.

 

-she could feel him spitting on her, and then working the saliva onto his fingers, into her clit, and then trailed the two fingers down to her cunt. She bucked her hips against him, urging him to continue-

 

The speed steadily increased, and the Master kept his forehead pressed to Ianto's as he unfastened the teaboy's trousers, yanked them and his pants down, and greedily began stroking the human's cock, giggling softly. 

 

-he slipped both fingers into her cunt and he violently fucked her with his fingers as he bent down to give her clit more attention-

 

Ianto let out a deep, throaty groan and bucked his hips, whined pathetically. The Master laughed, more air than voice. "You like that, do you?" he hissed. Ianto opened his mouth, but nothing more than a hoarse gasp came out. He had no idea how he could feel how she did, but frankly, Ianto didn't care. All he could think about was the pleasure.

 

-his voice was low and husky as he commanded her to say his name. She couldn't speak at first, due to his ever-busy tongue and relentless fingers, but then he froze completely and stared at her darkly. "Say my name," he growled-

 

"Master," Ianto groaned. With one, final, expert tug-

 

-she was getting closer and closer with every thrust of his fingers, and he pulled them out to replace them with his tongue. With a few, final, expert thrusts, she came-

 

-Ianto came right into the Master's hand, suppressing a shout, and then was snapped back to reality when the Time Lord pulled his head away. He leaned heavily against the treehouse and panted, thinking about how close Jack was that entire time. The Master took his time licking Ianto's mess off of his palm and grinned while the teaboy hastily pulled his pants and trousers back up. "W-was that a-"

"Double orgasm?" the Master inquired, cutting him off with a sly grin. Ianto nodded sheepishly, and the Master whispered, "Yes. It was. I hope you enjoyed it!"

The teaboy didn't want to say, so he just nodded ashamedly. "It wasn't right, though."

"Oh, bollocks to right or wrong! Those aren't gonna get you anywhere far, are they? I mean, take me and the Doctor, for example. The high-and-mighty Doctor has to save everyone, help everyone. Where's that gotten him? A couple of broken hearts and a sob story? Dead people - ones that he cares about - all lying around him in a circle?" The Master laughed, and it sent ice down Ianto's back. "But what have I gotten? The psychopath, the lunatic, the maniac? I've gotten power, fortune, everything I've wanted. Of course, I've faced some tragedies in my life, but my conscience allows me to get over it, whereas the Doctor's doesn't. Good and evil balance each other out, Ianto. Yin and Yang, I believe it is."

The teaboy laughed tensely and realized that he didn't want to look at the Master anymore. He didn't want to be near him. It wasn't because of what he'd said - because Ianto hated himself for agreeing - but it was... him. His grin, the cold light in his eyes, his gentle touch absentmindedly trailing down Ianto's abdomen. All too suddenly, Ianto's promise to Jack rang through his head. His promise to stay away from the Master. He felt even more dirty as he remembered that, and could feel the blush creeping onto his cheeks. The Master grinned. "He doesn't have to know," he whispered, his eyes darting to the window right next to Ianto's head. Ianto's eyes widened and he gasped for a question before the Master put a finger against his lips and shushed him with eyes as clever and cold as a fox's.

"Time Lord. I can see into your mind. Now tell me... what would Jack do if he knew about what just happened there? How would he react?"

Ianto looked down at his trainers. He knew exactly how Jack would react - by putting a bullet in the other Time Lord's head. The Master leaned in close, stroking Ianto's chest and running nimble fingers down his abdomen. "And, if you're good..." he murmured darkly, "you might be able to join me and the Doctor one day. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

The scent of cinnamon stung Ianto's nostrils and he felt slightly dizzy, but somehow replied, "Yes, Master."

"Ooh, I love it when you say my name."

The psychopath glanced through the window and smirked before stepping away from the human with a mocking grin. "You'd best get back inside. Your Captain's waking, now."

As he sauntered casually away, Ianto remembered how to breathe and composed himself quickly. He smoothed his hair down and turned on his heel to creep back into the treehouse just as Jack's eyes fluttered open. "Yan? What're you doing out there?" he slurred, voice deeper with sleep. Ianto shrugged and settled down next to his Captain.

"Had to piss. You alright?"

"Yeah," Jack grunted, sitting up properly. He blinked at Ianto with eyes glazed over by sleep, and offered a tired smile. "I haven't slept like that in years. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to actually sleep."

"You've got to make time, Jack. Just an hour a night, or so."

"An hour a night? What do you take me for, Yan?" Jack laughed. He folded his arms behind his head and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't have time, most nights. The rift keeps me busy."

"There's nothing to keep you busy, here."

"The Doctor. And, the Master - you know. Making sure he stays out of trouble..." Jack trailed off. His small smile melted into a distant frown, making Ianto slip his hand into his Captain's. He gently stroked along the back of Jack's hand with his thumb and felt Jack relax, just a bit. "Don't worry about him," he murmured, feeling a large, dark ball of guilt pile up in his stomach even as he whispered the words. He wound his index finger through Jack’s hair and thought he felt his heart shattering as Jack rested his head on his teaboy’s chest. “You alright?” he wondered contentedly. Ianto nodded and closed his eyes.

 

The Doctor dodged a bedpan and leapt out of the way of a gurney sent flying toward him. He scrambled back to his feet and tried to maneuver closer to the Master, but he was rewarded by being hit in the face with an empty beaker. “Ow!” he cried out harshly, but the Master didn’t take into consideration his pain. He just kept throwing things at the Doctor until the Time Lord threw his hands into the air as a sign of surrender. “Alright, fine!” he roared. The Master tentatively lowered the vase of flowers he was prepared to hurl at the Doctor. “You have it your way, Master! You don’t need to take your bloody medicine, and then don’t come begging to me when you think your skull is gonna split in two. You hear?”

The Master didn’t reply, but he curled his upper lip in a snarl, which gave the Doctor a suitable answer. He felt all the rage and the energy draining out of him and had to lean on the wall to avoid crumpling to the floor. The Master stood rooted to the spot, knuckles white around the vase. “What’s your problem?” he demanded harshly. The Doctor shook his head and made to leave the infirmary, but he felt the Master’s hand closing around his arm before he could get very far. Fearing another assault, he flinched, but the Master didn’t let him go. The Doctor tried to tear himself away, feeling tears bud in his eyes, whispering, “No, no, no, please, no…” as he frantically fought to get away. All too soon, he was pressed close to the Master’s cool Time Lord body, long arms wrapped around him and holding him close, anchoring him in place. He waited for the Master to apologize for throwing things at him, for raping him, for taking over the world, for anything, but the other Time Lord remained stubbornly silent and just held the Doctor. Not that it didn’t feel good, of course. The Doctor could think of only a few times when the Master had just held him. No sex, no aggravating or degrading words, no threats. Just his arms and his body. The Doctor found himself sinking into the Master’s grip and quickly pulled away. He looked down in shame - although, he wasn’t exactly sure what there was to be ashamed of - and felt the Master’s soft, cold hands cupping his face. “You alright?” he whispered. The Doctor shook his head, and then the Master pressed their lips together for only a few short seconds. 

“You’ll be fine. I promise.”

The Doctor shook his head again and the Master wrapped his arms around the Doctor to resume their position. “You’re a stupid git, though, I hope you know that.”

He ruined the mood. The Doctor shook his head and pushed him away weakly, but the Master didn’t protest. He stood there and looked the Doctor straight in the eyes. “You force me to come on board your TARDIS,” he resumed, voice soft as ever, “and you don’t expect some trouble? I mean, really, Doctor. You know me.”

“I never could’ve anticipated… this,” the Doctor replied, his voice wavering. The Master laughed lightly and reached to take the Doctor’s hand. The other Time Lord didn’t protest.

“What, us? Oh, come on. We’ve both thought about it. Back on Gallifrey, d’you remember those conversations we’d had?”

“That was before… everything.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t change what you said. You said-”

“Master, don’t…”

“You said you loved me, Theta. And I said-”

“I know what you said, Master. Please, don’t.”

The Master glared up at him severely, challenging him to try and stop the maniac from saying his next few words. “I said I loved you, too.”

“That was a long time ago. Everything’s changed.”

“Don’t you see? Nothing’s changed!” the Master cried, his eyes sparkling bright with madness and his smile just a bit too wide to be considered ‘sane’. “We’re the same kids that were down there, on Gallifrey!”

“No, we’re not. Things-”

“And that’s why you let me do those things to you, Doctor! Because you still love me!”

“Kosch, stop.”

“You’ve even used my name! See, we’re the same-” In his excitement, he broke the sentence by crying out in pain and crumpling to the floor, clutching his head. The Doctor instantly dropped to his knees and gently touched him, to see if he was alright - for the most part, at least. “Master? Master, what’s happened?”

He couldn’t reply; he had his jaw clenched and seemed unable to release it.

“Is it the drums? I told you you should’ve taken that bloody medicine…” the Doctor trailed off, leaping to his feet and quickly scanning the floor for the discarded medication. In a matter of moments, he found the little pill bottle and scooped it up, sprinted back to the Master and already had three pills dumped into the palm of his hand when he reached the wrecked Time Lord. “Open your mouth,” he commanded. The Master shook his head and huddled into a pitiful, sobbing ball of flesh. 

“Master, open your mouth.”

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, the Master tore his lips apart and feebly parted them just enough for the Doctor to slip the pills inside. In a few moments, the Master slowly unfurled and laid there, breathing heavily. “I told you,” he murmured. The Doctor frowned and carded his fingers through the Master’s hair, something he’d grown quite fond of, and it also calmed the Master down. “Told me what?”

“That you still loved me.”

“I didn’t think you cared, anymore.”

He felt the Master stiffen, as if just now realizing that he’s supposed to be a manic psychopath. The Time Lord raised his head and sniffed, nodded, scrubbed the tears off of his cheeks. “I don’t,” he stated plainly, getting to his feet and straightening his suit. The Doctor felt his hearts sink into his stomach. They’d been making progress! Why did the Master always have to be such a git? He bounced to his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets, refusing to let the psychopath see how much it bothered him. “Well, then! Where to now, eh?”

“I dunno. There’s nothing fun to do in this bloody thing.”

“Oi! There’s plenty of fun things we can do!” the Doctor cried excitedly. It was clear that his optimism was pissing the Master off, and, if he was honest with himself, he was loving it. “We could… go to the aquarium, the interplanetary zoo, take a hike in the forest, have some fun in the sun on the beach, look at the Kasterborous Constellations in the observatory… there’s no end to the options!”

“Yes, but all that is for kiddies. I could name every star in the Kasterborous Constellations when I was 300,” the Master sneered. The Doctor made a disgruntled - but impressed - face and scratched the back of his neck. “Blimey, three-hundred? I couldn’t get the Boron Cluster until I was five-hundred and thirteen.”

“That’s because you’re thick, and you didn’t ever study.”

“I had better things to do than study,” the Doctor insisted, provoking a sharp laugh from his opposite. 

“What, like rearranging the star system above Sol 26 to confuse the astronomers? Or trapping the emperor of Altros in a time loop that lasted for three moons?”

“That was great fun!”

“No wonder Rassilon always hated you. At least I learned how to fly a TARDIS properly.”

Now, the Doctor’s face was mildly offended as he insisted, “I fly my TARDIS perfectly well!”

“You call that flying? Doctor, d’you know why it makes that obnoxious noise?”

“No idea. I’d say it was probably the radiation thermometer, perhaps the heating’s going…”

“It’s because you leave the brakes on, idiot,” the Master interrupted. The Doctor’s eyebrows flew up, and he could tell clearly that his shocked facade made the Master want to slap him into the next solar system. “The brakes?” he demanded incredulously. He hadn’t realized how much fun it was to piss the Master off until just now.

“Yes the brakes! And the reason that your flight is so damn shaky is because you’ve not used stabilizers since you were 200!”

“Yeah, but they’re boring!” the Doctor whined. The Master rolled his eyes and sighed in aggravation before shaking his head. “You’re insufferable,” he muttered. The Doctor gave him a big, idiotic grin and reached out his hand to take the Master’s. “Observatory, then? We could make a game out of it!” he advised. The Master rolled his eyes again and sighed dramatically, but didn’t yank his hand away from the Doctor’s. “Oh, come on! You know you want to beat me! And, you probably will, given the fact that I never studied,” the Doctor chided playfully.

“Oh, yeah? What game’s that, then?”

“Whoever can name the most stars!”

“And, what’s my prize?” the Master wondered seductively, yanking the Doctor closer. The thin Time Lord winked playfully at him and informed him, “Whatever the winner wants.”

“I want to go somewhere. I want to go outside.”

“Aww, that’s no fun!” the Doctor whined playfully, his hearts starting to race. The Master wasn’t ready to go outside - not yet! He had to convince him to pick something else, or the Master would make the rules permanent, so that the Doctor wouldn’t be able to go back on the deal. The Master scoffed at him and straightened his tie with a smug face. The Doctor wished he knew what went on in the man’s head. “Of course it is! We can go see the Festival of the Twelve Rebellions. I’m sure you don’t have a problem with that?”

The Doctor pulled an impressed face and raised his hand to run it through his hair. The madman was being tempting, he’d give him that. “I didn’t think you would be interested in the Twelve Rebellions,” he admitted. The Master scoffed at his bewilderment. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“You probably only like it for all the gore and bloodshed,” the Doctor muttered under his breath, provoking sharp laughter from the other Time Lord. “Wherever would you get that cockamamie notion?”

“The fact that you used the word cockamamie is proof enough.”

“Preposterous!” the Master bellowed vivaciously. He linked his fingers with the Doctor’s and tugged him out of the infirmary. “The observatory, then? I’m looking forward to getting out of this bloody thing. It’s getting irksome.”

“Oi! And, don’t get your hopes up ‘cos I never said that I’d take you out. How can I be sure you won’t be concocting some dastardly scheme?”

“If I’m planning anything particularly diabolical, I promise I’ll let you know.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor huffed sarcastically. The Master grinned flirtatiously at him and pushed open the door to the observatory. “Kasterborous Constellations, then?”

“No, that’s not fair. I never learned all the stars in that one.”

“It’s your own fault, you know. You didn’t study or pay attention in class. You were too busy messaging me pictures of Rassilon’s face you photoshopped on top of the Dalek Emperor’s, or on the head of some male genitalia.”

The Doctor grinned widely. “Those were funny!” he protested as he sat down on the floor of the observatory and began turning buttons to view a random star system. The Master smirked and sat down next to him as he muttered, “I didn’t say they weren’t.”

“Okay, here’re the rules: this takes us to a random star system. If neither or one of us don’t know what it is, we go to a different one until we find one that we both know. The Time Lord that can count the most stars in ten minutes wins,” the Doctor explained. The Master nodded and looked up at the stars that had materialized all around them. The Doctor watched him looking up at the stars for a moment and then turned his own eyes to the simulated skies, easily identifying the stars as the Ursula Cluster and grinning inwardly. This was one of the only star systems that he’d paid attention to in the Academy, but he didn’t exactly know why the young Doctor had fancied it so much. Perhaps because it had stumped astronomers for so many centuries, as to how the stars arranged in such intricate patterns, sometimes even melding together to create giants. When the Master began spewing off names of stars, the Doctor only muttered a few names in a few seconds and then pretended to be stumped for a while before naming a few more. Right now, it didn’t matter if the Master won and the Doctor had to take him out of the TARDIS. Seeing as the Master was enrapt in the stars, eyes fixed to the skies and taking no notice of the other Time Lord, the Doctor stopped focusing on the stars and watched the Master, occasionally naming stars from memory. He thought the Master looked serene. This was one of those precious - and very, very scarce - moments where he was calm, not focusing on the drums, just tranquil. His head was craned up so that his adam’s apple stuck out in his throat, which was stretched and thin, and his eyes sparkled in the glow of the stars as his lips moved fast and soft as he rattled off star titles.


	6. The Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The TARDIS crew get to take a trip outside! And then something goes very wrong…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heed the warnings

Before the Doctor knew it, ten minutes had passed and the Master’s lips stopped moving. He only lingered on the stars for a few more seconds before blinking and looking back at the Doctor. “I win,” he sneered triumphantly. The Doctor pretended to be miffed and huffed out a childish sigh. “Damn,” he cursed quietly. The Master laughed and leaned in to press a kiss to his neck. 

“The Festival, then?”

“Alright, whatever,” the lanky Time Lord muttered. He was masking a kind of bubbly happiness that he hadn’t felt in a long time - but if he was honest with himself, he was dreading breaking the news to Jack. He knew that the Captain hated the Master and would bitch about it until the cows came home, but it didn’t really matter to the Doctor right now. He bounced to his feet and sprung out of the observatory. “I hope you don’t mind if we wear some matching… jewelry during our trip to the Festival?” he called behind him. He turned around and trotted backwards as the Master’s eyebrows raised with curiosity. “Explain,” he commanded simply. The Doctor shrugged and turned his eyes upward - partly in an innocent gesture and partly to think of how exactly to explain it to the Master. “Well… you remember those diabolical schemes we talked about earlier?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, to prevent any… fiendishness, I’ve got these-these bracelet things that Jack gave me a while back. I had some trouble with a Slitheen, and she wanted me to take her out to dinner, so I wore one of them, and she wore the other. If she got any more than ten feet away from me, she’d be electrocuted with ten-thousand volts.”

The Master looked disgruntled, but he shrugged. “I suppose that’s reasonable,” he stated plainly. To be honest, the Doctor was mildly surprised at the Master's acceptance of the idea. He thought the Time Lord would be furious - he was half-hoping that the Master would revoke the idea of leaving the TARDIS entirely, but now he was being agreeable? The Doctor sighed, ran a hand through his bushy hair, and shrugged. "Alright, then. I'll fetch Ianto and Jack, then."

"I'll wait in the console room," the Master offered, letting their hands fall apart and sauntering through the corridor on his way to his destination. The Doctor sighed again, a little bit heavier this time, knowing that something this good couldn't last for much longer without something doubly as awful happening. "Well... bollocks," he cursed to himself near-silently. 

 

Jack was gently, gently running his fingers through Ianto's soft hair as he slept when he heard someone bouncing up the rickety stairs to the treehouse. "Jack? Ianto?" the Doctor's voice came. Jack's heart quickened. The Doctor's voice wasn't so empty anymore, and that could only leave to endless questions about what had happened to bring this marvellous thing about. He didn't want to wake Ianto, but the teaboy would have to wake up sooner or later. He lifted his head off of the teaboy's chest, making Ianto only snuffle in his sleep a bit and turn the other way. The Captain got to his feet and ever-so quietly stepped out of the treehouse, and nearly collided with the Doctor. "Jack!" the Time Lord shouted in surprise, to be met with Jack frantically shushing him. "What is it?" the Doctor whispered, a bit loudly. Jack had to give him credit for trying. 

"Ianto's asleep. What do you need?"

"Well... erm - don't get cross with me, Jack. Please. I think he's ready."

Now, Jack was dangerously wary. "Ready for what?" he hissed.

"Well... he won a bet. Actually, I sortof let him win, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm taking him out of the TARDIS, just to go see the Festival of the Twelve Rebellions."

"You're-you're what?" Jack shouted, temporarily forgetting the fact that Ianto was sleeping less than ten feet away from them. The Doctor looked down at his shoes and tried not to answer. 

"Doctor, that's insane! You can't let him out of the TARDIS! Not ever! He'll never be ready!"

"Jack, don't talk like that. I know why you think that, but he's really improved, he really has! You've just gotta try and see it."

"I saw enough. I saw what he did to you," Jack said darkly, and the Doctor blushed heavily, thinking that Jack had no idea. He scratched the back of his neck, and was saved from having to answer by Ianto's groggy voice. "Jack? What's going on?"

The Captain turned his head to look inside the treehouse, and then glared at the Doctor with eyes that said, Stay right there, and strode inside. "Ianto, it's fine. You've gotta get up, though. We have to convince the Doctor that the Master can't leave the TARDIS yet."

"Why?"

"Oh, not you too! Because he's a psychopath, Yan! Can't be fixed!"

The Doctor was mildly offended, but he remained anchored to the spot until Jack and Ianto came back outside to greet him. "Hello, Doctor."

"Ianto! What a pleasure it is to see you again! I was hoping I'd bump into you sometime soon, and here we are."

"The feeling's mutual. Jack tells me you want to take the Master outside?"

The Doctor was forced to stop avoiding the subject and nodded slowly. "Yeah," he began uncertainly. "Well... we were having a good time!"

"Having sex," Jack interrupted dangerously. The Doctor shook his head frantically. "No, no!" he protested. "He hasn't-we haven't had sex since-since... well, we weren't having sex! We were in the infirmary, going through the same thing we go through every week when I try to get him to take his medicine."

"Medicine?" Jack demanded.

"They're antipsychotics. For the drums, you know. And I just gave up, because I get so tired of fighting him. So, we began talking, and he began talking, and then the drums hit and he let me feed him the medicine. We went to the observatory to play a game, and he won."

"You said that you let him win."

"Well... I couldn't help it! You should've seen him! He was so peaceful, Jack. Didn't have any worries. I didn't want to ruin it. Ten blessed minutes, Jack. Just ten minutes where he wasn't worried, wasn't angry, wasn't hurting. If that was your Ianto, what would you have done?" the Doctor begged. Jack sighed heavily and stepped a bit closer, lowered his voice and hoped that Ianto couldn't hear them. 

"You're saying you-you love him?"

"Do you love Ianto?"

"Ianto isn't a psychopath, Doctor. Sorry, but I can't relate," Jack hissed, desperately avoiding the subject. He stormed down the bridge leading to the treehouse, leaving Ianto and the Doctor behind. He shook his head and muttered curses as he stomped through the forest. Before Jack knew it, he found himself in the console room, where the Master was circling the console and eyeing the different gadgets. "Hello, Girlie," he said, not even looking up.

"You know as well as I do that you shouldn't leave the TARDIS. Ever. Despite what the Doctor thinks, you're still dangerous."

"The Doctor is deluded," the Master agreed. "And incredibly stupid."

"Don't say that about him."

"Why not? There's no one to hear me."

"I can hear you."

"Oh, you're hardly someone worth worrying about," the Master purred with a sickening grin that made Jack's stomach twist into knots and his heart beat incredibly fast. The madman began stalking toward Jack, much like a prowling cat, and the Captain's legs itched to back away from him. "You're hardly a 'someone' at all! The girlie, the freak," the Master snapped. He came even closer and Jack's legs wobbled as he backed off. That, there in the Master's eyes... it was demonic.

"You're wrong. You're just a thing, sent to curse the Earth by the hilarity of the Universe. Fallen in love with the last Time Lord - well, not the last anymore, is he? He's got someone else, now, and he doesn't need his pet monster. You don't like that, do you?"

"Get away from me," Jack commanded, although he wasn't exactly very intimidating. His voice came out barely above a whisper, and his throat was hoarse and dry. 

"I know what you want to do to him, Jack," the Master hummed, too close to Jack. The psychopath said his name like it was some sort of mocking word, like it was a curse word.

"Master, stop, or I'll tell the Doctor."

"You want to do what I've done to him. You want to have him - take him on every surface of the TARDIS, like I have. Pound into him, harder, harder, harder."

"S-stop," Jack gasped, his back pressing into the handrail circling the edge of the grating that was the floor of the console room. 

"Until he's bleeding underneath you," the Master growled darkly as Jack's legs began to crumple. He didn't exactly know why the Master was having this affect on him, but he didn't think this was the right time to be questioning anything. 

"And even if he doesn't want it, you can take it from him because you know there's nothing he can do to stop you. You're more powerful than he is. You're stronger, and he knows it, too."

For some reason, Jack smelled cinnamon. Cinnamon and mint leaves. The smell was overpowering, making him want to cough, but he couldn't even breathe. His eyes stung and his nose felt like it was on fire, but he couldn't move. He couldn't get away from the Master, towering over him and hissing all sorts of indecencies. "You want me to tell you what he likes, just so you know when your time comes?"

"Please," Jack begged, feeling his breath hitching in his chest. "Please stop..."

"He likes it when you're rough on him. He likes to bleed, Freak."

"Jack!" they heard Ianto's voice calling from the hallway. The Master reached down and grabbed Jack by the arms. "Jack? Are you alright?" he demanded just as Ianto strolled into the console room. He spotted Jack and instantly ran over, dropping to his knees and cupping his hands around his Captain's face. "What's wrong?" He whipped his head around to face the Master, who looked just as panicked as he did. "What've you done to him?"

"Me?" the Master demanded incredulously, looking more than a little annoyed. Ianto frowned as the Doctor walked into the room. "What've I done? I haven't done anything! He just collapsed!"

"Master, what's happened? What've you done?"

The Master rolled his eyes and sat back on his haunches. "Why the hell is it always me that does something? I didn't do anything!" he shouted unhappily. The Doctor sighed and nodded in aggravation before apologizing. "Alright, sorry! What happened to him? Did you see anything?"

"No, I didn't. It's because of those bloody antipsychotics that you feed me - they make me dizzy sometimes, and I can't see."

The Doctor frowned, as if he doubted what the Master was saying, but he turned back to Jack, who was slowly regaining his strength. He groaned, winced, and propped himself up on his arms. "Ianto?" he wondered groggily, blinking heavily.

"Yeah, Jack. It's me. What happened?"

"I... I dunno. I-I think I blacked out or something," he guessed, glancing up at the Master. Why was he here? Jack couldn't remember what had happened when he got to the console room except for waking up here, but he suspected the Master had some part in this. 

"I'm fine," he groaned, getting to his feet. The Doctor watched him with uncertainty for a moment, and then the lanky Time Lord bounced to his feet and jumped past the Master to get to the console. Jack grinned at Ianto - he would love this bit. 

"Right, then! The Festival of the Twelve Rebellions? Where's that, on Y67 Three?" the Doctor shouted. The Master stood and smirked, leaned against one of the coral supports. "Yeah," he agreed.

"That's in the Andromeda Galaxy, isn't it? Well, then! Allons-y!" the Time Lord shouted, flipping a lever with vigor that he hadn't possessed since Jack had come aboard the TARDIS. He laughed and let Ianto help him to his feet, and they leaned on each other as they watched the Doctor and held onto the handrailings for dear life. "Bit of a bumpy ride, isn't it?" Ianto called over the noise as he was nearly flung over the railing. The Doctor laughed out loud and continued dancing around the console, pulling levers and flipping switches and doing all sorts of scientific stuff to his TARDIS. Jack saved himself just before he would've fallen to the floor after one particularly hard jolt and noticed that Ianto wasn't where he was before. The teaboy was in the Master's arms, and the Master was grinning down at him like a famished hyena would look at a slab of steak. Jack's arm snapped out and he grabbed the back of Ianto's shirt, pulled him back into the Captain's own embrace and glared sharply at the Master. Ianto's words were hard to make out, but Jack could barely hear him saying, "I fell."  
Jack didn't care.

 

The TARDIS landed with a great bang that sent everyone flying, and then the only noises that could be heard was the Doctor's raucous laughter, lying flat on his back near the door, and the Master's disgruntled mumbling about the brakes. Ianto was grinning widely, thinking that this was the most fun that there'd been yet, and glanced at Jack, who was staring at the Master darkly, obsessively. The Doctor snapped him out of his trance by bouncing to his feet and charging at the door, flinging it open ecstatically. "There we are, then! Andromeda Galaxy, in the Andromeda Constellation. Home to one-trillion stars - isn't that amazing? - and nine billion years old!"

"We get it, you moron," the Master snapped. He rolled his eyes and continued for the Doctor, "Also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, 2,538,000 light years away from Earth, blah, blah, blah. Can we go to the Festival, now?"

The Doctor made a pouty face, but then shrugged and gestured to Jack and Ianto. "You two start wandering around, and the Master and I'll bump into you some time or another," he told them with an assuring smile. Jack seemed hesitant, but Ianto grabbed his arm and lead him to the door before stopping and facing the Doctor. "Why won't you come with us?" the teaboy asked.

"I've got... well, I just have to make sure the Master can't do anything particularly evil. You'll understand. Go along, then!"

"How? What're you gonna do?"

"There's these bracelet-things that Jack gave me a while back, and the Master doesn't have anything against wearing one of them."

Jack frowned for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Oh! Oh! You mean, Margaret Slitheen?"

"Exactly!"

At this, Jack's optimism seemed to return a bit. Ianto's face broke out into a smile and he held Jack's arm a little tighter. "So, Doctor," Jack began instead of leaving, like the Doctor had advised, "where exactly is this Festival located?"

"Y67 Three! In the Tendril City of Ahknakhta! It's the capital of the planet!" the Doctor called. He was hunched under the console, where he had opened some sort of panel in the base of the time column and was rooting around. The Master sauntered up behind him and smacked his ass, making the Doctor cry out in surprise - and even Ianto could tell that it made Jack's blood boil. 

"Jack!" the Doctor shouted indignantly, still not pulling his head out from under the console. The Master laughed heartily and Jack stuttered to protest, "No, that wasn't me! That was the Master!"

"Oh. Master!"

"Have you got them yet?" the Master demanded, like a whining child. "I'm bored now. I want to go to the Festival! Doctor, if we're late for the reenactments, I swear to Rassilon I'll-"

"Aha!" the Doctor shouted triumphantly, adequately cutting the disgruntled Master off. He emerged from inside the panel and snapped the top back on, and then jumped to his feet and brandished two silver bracelets that Jack recognized instantly. He grinned smugly at the Master and linked his fingers with Ianto's. The mad Time Lord yawned as the Doctor fastened one bracelet to his wrist. "I think this is the right one..." the Doctor muttered. He glanced at Jack. "The one with the moon engraving is the electric one, right?"

"No, the one with the sun engraving is the electric one, Doctor."

"Be a pity to get that wrong, wouldn't it?" the Master mused with a venomous smirk. The Doctor made a befuddled face and took the moon bracelet off the Master's wrist, and then replaced it with the sun one. After that, he clipped the moon bracelet around his own bony appendage and grinned. "Right, then! Are we ready? Does anyone need the toilet? Because I'm not sure how sanitary their portable toilets are... the Uuruugians are much like Earth octopi."

Ianto grimaced and shook his head. "I'm alright. Jack?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's hit it, shall we?"

The Doctor beamed at him and extended his arm to link with the Master's, who looked at him like he'd just sprouted a third eye and it was mildly amusing. "I'm not a kid, Doctor."

"Neither am I. Come on, then? Afraid that people are gonna mistake us for a couple?" the Doctor chided sneakily. The Master rolled his eyes, and Ianto quite enjoyed watching their exchange. It was better than other things he'd seen go on between them. Even Jack was smiling! The psychopath sighed dramatically. "Actually, that's exactly what I'm worried about. Can we go without all the drama, please? We can save that for the reenactments," he advised giddily. The four made their way out of the TARDIS as the Doctor made a disgruntled and slightly grossed-out face. "The reenactments? I knew you were only in it for the gore."

"It's history! Hardly gore!"

"Very gore! Those reenactments have got to be at least thirty-seven percent more bloody than the real thing. I was there!"

"I bet you caused it, you bloody twit."

"Actually, not that one," the Doctor said after he locked the doors behind them. He looked around, squinted up at the small sun in the sky, and then back down at the Master. "I didn't have anything to do with that rebellion."

Ianto had to keep his mouth from dropping open. The Doctor wasn't kidding when he'd told them that the people of this planet resembled Earth octopi. In fact, the only difference that Ianto could make out was that these people had three eyes on their bulging heads. The Festival was bustling with - what did the Doctor call them? - Uuruugians. They were behind stands, in front of them, all around. The day was bright, the air filled with chatter and the call of vendors. The Doctor leaned over to Ianto, to murmur in his ear. "I love the Uuruugians. They speak in garbled words, so it's quite a challenge to learn their language - but it's a fun challenge. Very friendly, unless you start saying that puppies are better than kittens, or something. They really, really like kittens. In fact, I think kittens are the deities of this planet. Not cats. Not dogs. Just kittens. A bit odd, but they're good altogether. Don't be afraid to wander around - they've got fences put up around the Festival so that visitors can't wander off and get eaten by a Salamander or something. You and Jack have fun!"

He slipped something in Ianto's hand and dragged the Master off into the crowd before Ianto could thank him, and before he could even get a look at what the Doctor had given him, Jack was hauling him through the Festival with a merry laugh. Ianto was loving this! "Is this what it was like?" he called over the noise. "Travelling with the Doctor?"

Jack grinned and eyed a passing Uuruugian before replying, "Yeah. He'd always have to take us somewhere magical. More to impress Rose than anything else, I think."

The Captain laughed and they sauntered up to a nearby vendor to ogle over his goods. "What did the Doctor give you?" Jack asked. Ianto looked down at his hand and found a slim, long piece of very flexible - but solid - material. Jack took it from him and examined it for a few moments before concluding that it was something like a credit card. "How much is on this?" he called to the vendor as he handed it over. The Uuruugian flopped its great big head with excitement - something that Ianto figured was a form of grinning - and scanned the thing before handing it back. "Unlimited tauros!" it cheered, waving two of its tentacles excitedly. 

Ianto frowned and leaned over to Jack. "The Doctor said they speak in garbled words. I mean, his accent's a bit hard to make out, but he's not speaking a different language."

"That's the TARDIS," Jack replied with a smile. "Translates inside your head."

"So, he's speaking his language?"

"Yeah. Neat, huh?"

"Weirder things have happened to me," Ianto said with a shrug and a sigh before smiling at the vendor and picking up a shiny bulbous thing. "Sorry, but what is this?"

One tentacle slithered around the object and activated a switch that Ianto hadn't seen before, and the trinket lit up. The bigger, rounder top half lifted off of the lower half and it spun slowly in midair as its counterpart released tiny fireworks that stayed contained in the gap of air between the two halves. Ianto stared happily at the thing until it reverted back to its original position, and Jack handed over the card. The vendor let loose a barrage of happy noises and scanned the card before handing it and a small gift box over. "Enjoy our Festival!"

In a few moments, they were examining another stall - this one filled with small statues of kittens that reflected the light and created beautiful rainbows inside them. Ianto knew that Jack secretly liked kittens - he thought that they reminded him of Ianto himself, and the fact that they were small, cuddly, adorable assholes - and bought the biggest one. It was a life-sized kitten replica, and when the card was scanned it immediately started moving. Both Jack and Ianto jumped with surprise, and then the vendor took it upon itself to explain.

"Apologies for startling you, Festival-goers! You see, we couldn't take the kittens out of stasis until they were bought, or else they'd wander off! Please enjoy our Festival!"

Jack scooped up the kitten with a giddy, childlike grin and nearly fainted when it mewled appreciatively in his arms. As Ianto ogled it from the side, Jack looked down at him and said, "I think I'll name her Rhiannon."

"Rhiannon? Why on Earth would you name her Rhiannon? We could name her Estelle," Ianto offered. Jack's face softened as he looked down at the kitten and he nodded slowly. "If you're alright with that."

"Why wouldn't I be? She was lovely."

"I thought you might... nevermind. Let's go see more! The Master mentioned something about reenactments, I think...?" Jack trailed off, looking around them. "There's gotta be a Visitor's Information Center here, somewhere."

 

The Doctor tried and failed to grab the Master's hand on multiple occasions. It wasn't like he desperately wanted to hold the madman's hand because he was looking at couples linking tentacles every ten seconds, he just didn't want the Master to get caught in the crowd and zapped! Of course, that was it. Every time the Doctor attempted to grab the madman’s hand, he was either shoved very roughly away, or he received a sharp elbow to the gut. He leaned over to the Master to be heard above the chatter of the crowd. “Where would you like to go?”

“The reenactments begin in about ten minutes. It’ll take us about seven to get to the arena, and then five minutes or more to get seats and food, if we want some. Which, I don’t think we will since the only thing these primitive shellfish eat are deep-salted sea dragons, which aren’t the most delicious things in the worlds,” the Master explained. The Doctor made a face and shrugged. 

“I didn’t think you were into the culinary arts.”

“And why not? It’s a fine thing to like.”

“I just thought that you weren’t interested. On the Valiant, you always had your slaves make your meals.”

“I didn’t have time to prepare my own meals, you dolt. I was busy conquering the Universe. Of course, I did enjoy taking a trip to the kitchens once in a while to make myself some pasta or something. When they were properly cleaned and all the apes were out of my sight, of course,” the Master informed him. The Doctor frowned and tried to make his way through the crowd full of slithering, untended tentacles. “I think the arena is over there!” he called to the Master, who was right behind him. The Doctor figured that the Master was making very sure to stay close to the Doctor, and that he didn’t exactly fancy getting electrocuted with ten-thousand volts. 

Soon enough, they had reached the arena where the reenactments were to be held, and the Master’s face was lit up with a giddy smile. The Doctor smiled just looking at him - he hadn’t seen the Master this happy for something in a while. Not since he’d conquered the Universe and killed millions. He glanced up at the Doctor before pushing - a bit rudely, the Doctor thought - past the crowd and into the arena. He found a spot that he was comfortable with and somehow cleared a family of Uuruugians out of the way. Once they’d taken their seats, the Doctor leaned in and murmured, “How’d you do that?”

“Do what?” the Master inquired innocently, looking out at the vast arena.  
“Get them to move. These are good seats, and it’s a Salamander-eat-Salamander world out here.”

“I just asked them nicely,” the madman informed him without making eye contact. The Doctor could make out the faint scent of cinnamon and mint leaves. He reached over and grabbed the Master’s hand, who looked at him as if he’d just attempted to plunge a sword through his abdomen. The Doctor insistently linked their fingers and scooted a bit closer. “Oh, come on. It’s not like anyone’s gonna see.”

“I can see it.”

“No one else can. Come on, Master - I’ve taken you to the stupid reenactments, the least you can do is hold my hand.”

“If you don’t want to be here, just take this bracelet off of me and go do your own thing.”

The Doctor frowned at him and turned his eyes back to the arena, where the reenactment was beginning. The Master seemed slightly ruffled at the thought of public hand-holding, but he didn’t try to pull his hand away. When the Uuruugian that was acting as the Emperor slithered onstage, the Doctor laughed out loud, attracting glares from several of the three-eyed creatures around them. The Master tightened his hold on the Doctor’s hand considerably, making the lanky Time Lord wince and attempt to pry the Master’s fingers away. The Master relaxed - but didn’t let go of the Doctor’s hand - and nonchalantly murmured, “This isn’t the time, Doctor,” while keeping his eyes on the arena. The Doctor made his best puppy dog face and leaned over, hoping that the Master would look at him. “Aww, come on! It’s funny! Just look at that costume!”

“They’re not supposed to be accurate, they’re supposed to be entertaining. The real thing was actually very boring; there was a lot of paperwork to be signed from either sides.”

“Yes, but they’ve made it very funny! It’s not my fault if I laugh!”

“Oh, I’ll keep you from laughing,” the Master threatened under his breath. The Doctor, who had heard him perfectly well, leaned in a little closer and innocently sang, “What was that?”

“I said, I’ll keep you from laughing.”

“Oh?” the Doctor breathed as he leaned back and put on his cheekiest grin. The Master finally looked at him, eyed him over, and then smirked wickedly - but the sort of wicked that put a blush in the Doctor’s cheeks. “How’re you gonna do that, then?” the Doctor inquired sweetly. Before he knew it, the Master had a hand on the Doctor’s crotch and was gently massaging, making the Doctor shiver and nearly cry out. “We can’t do that here! I thought you’d at least know that much!”

The Master grinned like the Chesire Cat and removed his palm, leaving the Doctor with a half-hard cock. “Why not?” the psychopath wondered innocently. The Doctor let out a bark of incredulous laughter and desperately avoided eye contact. He was blushing so hard, he started sweating in the minimal heat of the dwarf star that served as the sun of this planet. “Because there’re Uuruugians everywhere!”

“And? They’ve never seen two humanoid males consummating before - it’ll be quite fun for them.”

“I can’t have sex while someone’s watching!”

“You won’t even notice. I promise. I’ll pound you blind.”

He didn’t think it was possible, but the Doctor blushed even harder. As the playful, seductive mood grew, the Doctor felt a puddle of panic gathering in his gut. He couldn’t help but recall the episode in the pool… and his hearts felt like they were about to beat out of his chest. He felt the energy draining from him again, and desperately clutched at it - but it seemed to slip through his fingers. He felt the Master reaching for him, a hand working between his thighs, and he frantically pushed it away, his lungs refusing to breathe, not completely in control of himself. The Master tutted at him and tried again, and the Doctor seized back, making desperate whimpering noises from his dry throat. The Master rolled his eyes and then gently touched the Doctor’s hand, snapping him back to the present. “What the hell is your problem?”

The Doctor felt slightly offended at the audacity of the man to assume that the Doctor had a problem, but he supposed that he had quite a few. “I’m not-it’s just that… I’m not ready. I’m not okay with it.”

“Since when?” the Master scoffed.

“Since you raped me!” the Doctor snapped, hoping that he wasn’t too loud. He saw a few eyes dart in his direction and then back to the arena, a few whispers traded amongst family or friends, and then the Master laughed out loud. “Raped you?” he cried, quite loudly. “What notion have you put in your funny little head that that was rape?”

“You pinned me down and fucked me without my permission!”

“Well, you were hardly putting up a fight! It’s not my fault if I thought it was consensual!”

“It was obviously not!” the Doctor screeched. He felt the pang of tears in his eyes and cursed them away. He would not cry right now. As the Master laughed, the Doctor noticed that the reenactment in the arena had come to a halt, and that everyone was looking at them quite strangely. An Uuruugian in a uniform had slithered down to stand next to them, and it looked as if it was about ready to politely tap the Doctor on the shoulder. “Excuse me, Festival-goers, but I must have to ask you to leave the arena if you cannot stop talking.”

“Yes. Sorry,” the Doctor mumbled. He slid out of the seat and left the Master behind, looking furious and indignant. Eventually, he jumped out of the seat and ran up the stairs until he was walking beside the Doctor. “We’ll have to take this somewhere more private,” the Doctor told him quietly. The Master looked at him like he was stupid and demanded, “What for?”

“We’ve got to talk about this!”

The Doctor pushed the Master away from him and jogged up the remaining stairs until he came upon the Visitor Information Center. He thought he saw Ianto and Jack coming their way, so he ducked over the counter and made sure to be hasty. “Where are the restrooms? Quickly, if you don’t mind,” he asked the Uuruugian behind the counter. It used one of its tentacles to gesture to one particular area of the festival, where the Doctor could make out a brown rooftop. “Public restrooms are that way, sirs,” the Uuruugian informed him. He thanked it and dragged the Master to them. It was relatively empty and very spacious, so he pushed the Master in one of the stalls and locked the door behind him. When he turned around, the Master’s fist crunched into his nose and he was slammed against the stall door. His head was aching and fuzzy, and the Master wasn’t helping much by taking a fistful of his hair and throwing him to the grimy floor. The Doctor whimpered and tried to crawl away through the gap between the bottom of the stall door and the floor, but he felt the Master’s cold hands wrap around his ankles and drag him back, flip him over so that he was looking straight up into his assailant’s crazed brown eyes. He was grinning madly as his fingers found the Doctor’s trousers and he ripped them open. “Would this make it easier for you? If I raped you for real? Come on, then! You disappoint me, Doctor - you call that putting up a fight?” he mocked, dropping to straddle the Doctor’s legs and unfasten his own trousers. “Oh, please continue. You’re getting me all hot and bothered.”

“Master, stop!” the Doctor sobbed, frantically trying to claw him off. He twisted and turned, writhed the best he could, but the Master was very heavy. He succeeded in pulling his trousers off, and then he lifted himself off of the Doctor just fast enough to whip his trousers down to his knees. “Please, please, stop!” the Doctor begged, screaming as the Master dragged him back. He’d tried to escape, but the Master wasn’t having that. He snapped one arm out and clamped a hand over the Doctor’s thin throat, squeezed until the Doctor’s eyes were bulging, face was red, gasping for air and tears still squeezing out of his eyes. The Master watched him wriggle, and the Doctor tried to beg him with only his eyes. He saw the Master’s cock grow quickly hard and struggled harder until the Master withdrew his throttling hand and smacked him hard. “This is what you want, isn’t it? For me to rape you, so you have a suitable little sob story to pull on me? So that you can always rub it in my face that I’m the bad guy?” he hissed, leaning down so he was inches from the Doctor’s face. The trapped Time Lord raised his hands to scratch at the Master’s face, and he landed a good hit. There was a streak of angry red down the Master’s cheek, blood beading up at the center and gently dripping down his face. As the Doctor’s hearts froze in terror, the Master raised one finger to wipe up the blood, examined it for a moment, and then licked it off of his thumb lavishly. “Perfect,” he purred chillingly. “A little trophy for my efforts.”

Quicker than lightning, he reached out and snatched a handful of the Doctor’s hair, making the attacked man scream in fear and pain as the Master twisted and wrenched his head back, exposing his bruised neck. He leaned down, right next to the Doctor’s face, and whispered, “Don’t be afraid to scream.”

And the Doctor did as he was told. He screamed for help, he screamed as the Master brutally forced himself inside and began slamming into the Doctor. The Doctor’s voice broke with his sobs, with the force of his screams, every time the Master pulled out and slammed back in, but he kept screaming, because that was all he had left. He screamed and he clawed at the Master, who didn’t let him get anywhere near the important area, and who just kept thrusting and laughing. The Doctor screamed harder as the Master pounded faster, hunching over the Doctor’s body and grinning devilishly. Before much time had gone by, the Doctor saw eight tentacles slithering into the bathroom and then stop as he screamed harder and outstretched his hand to the creature. It paused and tentatively extended a tentacle, ever so gently wrapping it around one of the Doctor’s fingers. “What’s wrong? Who’s in there?”

“Please, please help me!” the Doctor shrieked before the Master could cut him off by clamping a hand around his throat and strangling him again. Even as he replied, he didn’t stop thrusting agonizingly into the Doctor. “Nothing’s wrong! We’re from another planet - this is one of our customs. Please don’t mind us and go back to your business.”

From out of nowhere, the scent of cinnamon and mint leaves was overpowering, and the Doctor choked on the stench, his vision too blurry to see if his eyes actually watered from the overwhelming smell. All he knew was that tears were streaking down his face, and his best friend and lover was betraying him. It hurt more than his bleeding, ragged arsehole. The Uuruugian let go of the Doctor’s hand and slithered into a stall a few stalls away from the two of them, and the Master released his hold on the Doctor’s throat to let him gulp in air through his aching windpipe. He wanted to scream more, he even forced a few seconds of shrieking out of his throat a few times, but there was no more energy. He was too tired, and too spent, and his throat ached and his eyes burned from the tears and the receding stench of cinnamon. All he could do now was sob, whimper, and try his best to push the Master off of him, to block out the sound of the psychopath’s laughter and harsh grunts. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of brutality, the Master finished right inside the Doctor and then sat there for a few moments, contented. The Uuruugian had left by now, and the Master sat back on the Doctor’s legs and tucked himself back into his trousers. He sat on top of the Doctor for a moment and glowered down at him. “Is that what you wanted?” he growled. The Doctor shook his head frantically, sobbing a bit harder. His eyes were squeezed shut, but he could hear the Master’s poisonous laughter. He could feel it - all the way down his bones, to his hearts. He couldn’t squeeze any words out of his throat, but the Master sure could. “You made it seem like you wanted it. I don’t ask for much, Doctor. World domination, food and drink, sex when I want it - but no. The Doctor can’t even give that much for his prisoner. Don’t deny it, that’s what I am. Pet, even?”

The Doctor shook his head more and didn’t open his eyes. He couldn’t. He was crying too hard to be able to do anything. He felt the Master’s hand on his cheek and flinched away, letting out a rather loud sob. “You’ve got to spoil everything,” the Master sighed. He got off of the Doctor and stood, and the Doctor could only crack his eyes open a bit. “You’ll not tell Girlie about this, will you? You know what’ll happen. You know what he’ll do.”

Yes, the Doctor knew what Jack would do. Jack would put several bullets through the Master’s brain. The Doctor wasn’t sure he didn’t want that.


	7. The Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack finds out about what happened at the Festival of the Twelve Rebellions, and the Doctor is still shaken.

Finally, they were able to locate the Visitor Information Center. The Uuruugian there gestured down to the arena, where the reenactments were being held, and Jack took Ianto’s hand, and they jogged down the stairs. It wasn’t a very small arena, and the two Time Lords should’ve stuck out in the crowd like sore thumbs. And yet, neither Jack nor Ianto could spot them. “The Master was very anxious about being on time,” Ianto recalled, not taking his eyes off of the crowd. “It didn’t seem like he was okay with missing this.”

Jack sighed and frowned. “They might be at the concessions.”

The two humans wove through the crowd until they reached the tiny concession stand, and there were no Time Lords. Back at the arena again, Jack and Ianto scanned the crowd with slightly concerned frowns. “Maybe the Master got bored? That is something that psychopaths tend to do,” Ianto offered. Jack shrugged, but there was a sickening feeling in his gut that something was very wrong here. “Come on, Jack. Let’s go back to the reenactment. It seemed entertaining enough.”

“No. I want to go check the TARDIS. They might not have been able to find us. They might be waiting for us in there.”

“Or, they’re still in the Festival somewhere. Come on, Jack. I know you’re worried.”

Jack did his best to grin down at his teaboy and shook his head, puffed out his chest. “Worried? Me? No way, Yan. Come on. Once we get to the TARDIS, we can drop Estelle off,” Jack noted, nodding down at the sleepy little translucent kitten curled up in the crook of one arm. Ianto smiled down at her and patted her head. Somehow, she felt the same as a real kitten, although she was made of simulated materials and didn’t appear to have any organs. She was soft and fuzzy, warm, completely legitimate. Jack watched Ianto scratch underneath her little chin, provoking a little mewl and the soft, warm rumble of her purring, and then they began through the crowd again. “After we check the TARDIS, we can come back here, right?” Ianto asked anxiously. Jack smiled and nodded. “Yeah, if they’re not ready to go. This is fun, but it’s bit crowded, don’t you think?”

“I think it’s lovely.”

“Well, I never said it wasn’t.”

It took a while, but they finally located the TARDIS and politely pushed their way past wandering tentacles in the crowd until they reached it. Jack handed Estelle over to his lover and dug around in his trouser pocket for the TARDIS key. When he’d extracted it and slipped it into the lock, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Doctor? Are you guys in here?”

No one answered for a few moments, and then the Doctor came bouncing into the console room, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. He looked worse than ever. His eyes were red from crying, and although his shirtsleeves were buttoned all the way up to his neck, Jack could see new, purple bruises around his throat. He didn’t say anything, only grinned cheekily at the two of them - and the kitten - and snapped his fingers. The TARDIS doors swung closed on their own behind the two humans, making Ianto and Jack jump. The Time Lord was eerily quiet, and Jack felt rage writhing in his gut as he wondered what the Master had done this time. As if on cue, the madman sauntered into the console room, a smug smirk on his face and his eyes glinting with something terrible. Jack noticed something out of character on his face - a dark scab extending from his cheekbone to about the middle of his cheek. He wore it proudly, Jack noticed, and when he got near to the Doctor, the other Time Lord squirmed and made up some lame excuse to get away. Jack felt like acting like everything was okay was what the Doctor needed right now; perhaps it would help him believe it. “How long have you lot been in here?” Ianto wondered amicably. Jack beamed at him proudly - he knew exactly what to do by following Jack’s lead. 

“Oh,” the Master thought about it for a moment, “fifteen minutes? This idiot couldn’t figure out how to reach your Vortex Manipulator - which is a piece of rubbish, by the way - so we just had to sit in here until you lot figured out that it was time to go.”

Ianto frowned, but then looked down at Estelle and his smile returned full-force. “We’ve gotten a kitten!” he cried happily. The Doctor’s eyes fixed on the kitten, and Jack could see the awe and interest as the Master grinned and sauntered over. Gently, he lifted the kitten out of Ianto’s grip. Jack bristled and made to take her away, but the Master scowled at him and yanked her out of his grip. “I may be a psychopath, but I’ll not start killing kittens anytime soon! What exactly do you take me for, some sort of monster?”

“That’s exactly what I take you for. Give her back.”

The Master peered inside her, at the rainbow patterns that the light was creating by beaming through her transparent body, and then up at her eyes. “She’s very life-like.”

“She can be life-like in my arms. Hand her over, Master.”

Jack glanced at the Doctor. Why wasn’t he interfering? The Master scratched underneath her tiny chin with a sweet grin for a moment before handing her to Jack with a raised eyebrow and a scowl. “You’d best look out, Ianto. This one’s rather clingy.”

He sauntered back into the TARDIS, and Jack watched him go with a dark expression before his eyes shifted to the Doctor’s, who quickly looked back down at his hands on the console. Ianto looked between the two and lifted Estelle out of Jack’s arms to stride into the TARDIS and leave the two of them alone. “Doctor,” Jack said darkly. The Doctor swallowed and worked around the console, half-heartedly piloting her. Jack followed him doggedly. “Tell me what happened.”

“I-” the Doctor tried to reply, but his voice only came out scratchy and all but nonexistent. He was hoarse, and burst into a fit of coughing as soon as he’d spoken the one syllable. Jack grabbed his arm and helped him stand straight up and catch his breath. “What the hell has he done?” Jack begged, filled with pity at the Doctor’s pitiable condition. He helped the Time Lord sit down on the bench beside the console and leaned against the controls, not willing to leave until he’d gotten an answer. The Doctor shook his head, knowing this as much as Jack did. 

“Doctor, you’ve got to tell me.”

“I-” the Doctor rasped. He swallowed some saliva and tried again. “I can’t. Not until-until I can think about it. Work everything-” he coughed several times, “-out for myself.”

“I swear, I won’t overreact. I won’t react. Just tell me. You can take my gun away, if you’d like. You can have Ianto’s, too. Lock me in my room for however long it takes to cool down. Just tell me.”

“J-Jack, you don’t want to know.”

“I really do want to know.”

“No, you don’t,” the Doctor insisted harshly. He burst into a fit of hoarse coughs and his eyes began watering up, making Jack come closer. As soon as he touched the Time Lord, however, the Doctor screamed shrilly and then coughed even harder, his thin body racked with the spasms, and all Jack could do was step back and watch him help himself recover. When the Doctor had, he breathed in deeply and then breathed out. Repeated the process a couple times over, and then opened his eyes, but didn’t meet Jack’s gaze. “Sorry, I just-”

But Jack was too horrified to let the Doctor finish that sentence with a lame lie. “Jesus, Doctor!”

The Doctor didn’t reply, and still didn’t meet his eyes. 

“He did that to you? You let him?”

“Well, there wasn’t much I could do about it!” the Doctor snapped, fat, heartbroken tears rolling down his cheeks. Jack could feel the blood draining out of his face and he stepped away from the Doctor, bumped into the console. “I’ve got to kill him,” he finally said. The Doctor shook his head tiredly.

“Please-”

“No, Doctor. You’ve got to let me kill him. He deserves more than death. You wouldn’t even have to know about it! If you could turn a blind eye, I could give him what he deserves somewhere in the TARDIS, far away. I could even bring him to Torchwood!”

“You’re talking about torturing and killing him, Jack!”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t let you do that! He’s the only one left… the only one that can never leave me. You can’t possibly understand this, but I need him. We… we have history.”

“Oh, so history makes it okay for him to rape you?” Jack snapped harshly. He didn’t regret his words, and he didn’t take them back, even though they stung the Doctor. The Time Lord shook his head. “No, but… I can’t let him go. He means a lot to me, Jack. I know you can’t understand.”

“If you’re talking about love, then I don’t want to understand! He’s disgusting! He’s a monster!”

The Doctor seemed more hurt by Jack’s words than the Master ever would be, and that made Jack hurt, too. How could he care for the Master so much after all he’s done? There was so much Jack didn’t know, and he didn’t want to know. He felt that if he heard one more thing about the Master, he would vomit. “Listen, I’m sorry,” Jack apologized reluctantly. The Doctor didn’t move. “It’s just… you have to see it, don’t you? You know that he’s a monster, and yet…”

“And yet I still can’t leave him. I can’t stop loving him. Perhaps one day, but… I can’t be alone anymore, Jack. It was driving me mad.”

Jack wanted to cry for the Doctor. He wanted to go and beat the Master senseless. He wanted to kiss the Doctor. He wanted to do so many things, but none of them seemed right for this situation. Frankly, he didn’t know what to do. He’d never had to console a rape victim before, and nothing he said seemed to be good enough. He couldn’t put into words how he felt, and he thought that was one of the most frustrating things about existence as a life form that couldn’t share emotions like Time Lords could. An idea hit him. He gently reached out to take the Doctor’s hands and lifted them to his temples. “Listen,” he whispered. Finally, the Doctor made eye contact with him and pressed his fingers to Jack’s temples.

At first, it was a bit odd. His subconscious automatically rejected the idea of having another mind in his own, but he forced himself to open his barriers and let the Doctor in, and when the link was solidified, he poured everything out. He let loose the flood of his emotions, let them sink into the Doctor’s mind and tell him exactly how he felt. Before he knew it, the Doctor was a puddle, sobbing hard, and it made Jack break the link and stoop down to look up at him. “Doctor, I’m sorry, I just thought-”

“No, it-t’s fine. It was r-really thoughtful of you…” he tried to finish, but he just sobbed harder, dropping his head into his hands and letting the sobs rack his fragile, thin body. “I’m sorry!” he cried, and Jack took one of his hands and kissed it. “It’s alright, Doctor. It’s not your fault, you hear me? You had nothing to do with it.”

“I d-d-did, though! I taunt-ted him-m! I t-told him that bef-f-fore, in the pool, he r-raped m-me, and then he showed m-me what r-real rap-pe is. It-t’s my f-f-fault!”

Jack’s blood went cold. He wiped tears off of his cheeks and stood up, still clutching the Doctor’s hand. “What did you say? He raped you before?”

The Doctor sobbed.

“In the pool? When was that, Doctor? Please, please tell me that it wasn’t right after I found you two out. It was then, wasn’t it? And I didn’t even see!” Jack shouted. The Doctor shook his head and tried to tell Jack that it wasn’t his fault, but Jack was unyielding. “I could’ve stopped it, Doctor. Don’t you hate me for that? You should hate me! I could’ve stopped this!”

“N-no, J-Jack… please don’t…”

“Doctor, please. You have to let me kill him. I have to kill him. We’d be saving so many people! We’d be clearing the Universe of a parasite like him, yeah?”

Before Jack could say anything else, the Doctor stood - easily topping his height - and pressed two fingers to the human’s temples. It was easier to let him in this time, especially since he was taken by surprise, and the Doctor let loose his emotions to run rampant in Jack’s brain. The human was taken aback by the complexity of it all. There was hate, rage, anger, love, hopelessness, despair, heartbreak, betrayal - nearly every emotion Jack had ever felt in his entire lifetime, all bundled up in a messy package and stuffed into the Doctor’s brain. And there was so much hurt, and anguish, and loneliness, and one tiny, bright spark of hope. Hope that someday, the Master would get better. Someday, he would love the Doctor like the Doctor loved him.

Jack recoiled, breaking the connection and effectively sealing his mental barriers. “What the hell did I just hear?” he demanded, although he wasn’t exactly surprised. The Doctor sighed in defeat and sat back down on the bench. 

“You love him? Since when? For how long?”

“Since we were kids. In the Academy. He was a bit of a prick at first, wasn’t too excited about being my tutor, but we got to know each other. Rassilon doomed himself by putting us together,” the Doctor chuckled lightly. Jack’s expression softened, and he sat down next to the Doctor, propping his feet up on the console. “Tell me more,” he urged, thinking that this might calm the Doctor down.

“I didn’t have very good marks, as a kid. Never studied, never did my work, never turned it in. Awful student. I was cleverer than all the others, you see, and all these simple concepts were excruciatingly dull for me. Kosch-I mean, the Master was the best student in the whole Academy. Top marks in every class. He even took classes meant for older students. He was brilliant - still is. So, Rassilon made him my tutor, hoping that he could get me on track. If I couldn't pass my classes, I couldn't graduate - and if I couldn't graduate, I couldn't become a proper Time Lord and join the Council, which is where Rassilon wanted me. Right where he could see me at all times and keep track of me."

"That's how you and the Master started?" Jack asked. The Doctor leaned back in the chair, his face blank, but his eyes were somewhere else. He propped his feet up on the console and laid his arms on either side of him on the back of the bench, one behind Jack himself. "Yeah. Sortof. The Master hated me, at first. He hated the fact that he couldn't control me, I think."

A whisper of a smirk crossed the Doctor's face. 

"That was probably it. Always has been a control freak, our Master. He liked to control people, and he was good at it. He's always had the eyes for it. You just look into his eyes... and you want to please him, you know? You want to do what he tells you to. It's happened to me a couple times... but not nearly as much as he'd like. 

"Anyways, so when we were children, he was assigned as my tutor by Rassilon, and that made us spend more time together."

Honestly, Jack wanted to vomit, thinking that this monster had been manipulating him for most of his life, but he let the Doctor continue. 

"I started to get on track, I really did. And then, one night while we were studying for my finals, I looked at him. It seemed like it was the first time I was really seeing him. I looked at him, and I saw him. He was perfect, Jack. Well... I mean, he wasn't, but it didn't matter. None of his imperfections didn't matter. And, he didn't notice me. Of course, to him I was just his student. Day after day went by, and he would teach other students, and then he would teach me, and then I would fall deeper and deeper in love with him. It was awful. So, of course, like any lovesick teenager, I had to impress him. When we walked into one of our classes, I had programmed everyone's holoscreens to play quite scandalous bare-nape photography. Of course, after that we became good friends. Best friends. And that was the beginning of it all. And, for a long time, the Doctor just talked, and Jack just listened.


	8. Repercussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Jack need to punish the Master for what he's done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I've got the worst writer's block. I'm thinking of trying to end this fic, but I also love writing it and there's some macabre, kinky shit I can do. Let me know what you think!

Ianto felt the tension in the room rising, and he sensed that there was something for the two of them to discuss privately, so he made his excuse and left. Estelle mewled desperately in his arms, but he just stroked the top of her soft, translucent head and murmured, "Hush now. Jack's got some business with the Doctor. You know, he didn't look too good. I wonder if that had anything to do with the Master's face... he seemed pretty proud of it."

Estelle looked up at him with big, emerald eyes and mewled again. He scratched her cheek and smiled softly as she began to purr and nudge into his fingers. He continued this until he arrived at his and the Captain's room. When he pushed open the door, however, the room was not empty, and the Master was lying comfortably on the bed and flicking through Ianto Jones' journal. "Oi!" Ianto cried, gently letting Estelle jump out of his arms and onto the floor, to wander around the room. He slammed the door shut, stormed over to the Master, snatched the book, and shoved it in the drawer of his bedside table. "Quite an interesting diary you keep, Ianto Jones. Very thorough," the Master commented. Ianto blushed deeply and glared the best he could at the Time Lord. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"I came to wait for you to deliver that kitten of yours," the Master confessed as little Estelle somehow jumped onto the bed. She wandered over to the Master, who picked her up and grinned at her.

"I didn't know you liked cats," Ianto admitted, a tad bit wary. The Master smiled at Estelle and scratched underneath her chin with one long finger. "I do. They're complete assholes; most of them, anyways. But they're soft, and fluffy, and warm, and they make those strange, rumbly noises when they're happy..."

The Master stopped midsentence, realizing that he would be forgoing his reputation of "genocidal madman" if he continued. This was obvious on his face, and Ianto couldn't suppress a smirk. The Master put Estelle down on the bed next to him, but she made it her mission to climb onto his lap, although she was quite tiny - therefore making the task somewhat difficult. The Master and Ianto watched her for a moment before Ianto spoke up.

"Where'd you get that?"

"What?"

"That scratch, on your cheek."

"Oh, this? It's a lovely gift from the Doctor."

"Doesn't seem like a gift."

"You don't know what we're into."

Ianto could imagine the possibilities - but he'd rather not. He decided that it was best to drop the subject and stand awkwardly by the door, too timid to get into his own bed next to the Master. "Why are you still here?" he asked after a few minutes. The Master looked at him like he was the psychopath. "What, with her on my lap? Not bloody likely," he scoffed, gesturing to Estelle, who'd burrowed down in his lap and was purring contentedly with her eyes closed. Ianto nodded, cleared his throat a few times, and stared at the books in the shelves on the wall. 

"You just gonna stand there all day?" he heard the Master's voice call.

"Well... you're in my bed."

"You've had my cock in your mouth. I don't suppose sitting - fully clothed - in a bed next to me might be the most disgusting thing in the TARDIS."

Ianto blushed furiously and slowly stepped to the bed. He perched awkwardly on the edge of it, hands in his lap and eyes fixed on Estelle. "Did you and the Doctor get any souvenirs from the planet?" he wondered. The Master laughed, as if they'd just shared an inside joke, and nodded, slowly running his hand along the kitten's furry, translucent back.

"Of sorts."

"What sorts?"

"I suppose... a lesson. And this lovely thing," he added, gesturing to the dark red scab on his face. Ianto frowned, but let him continue. "And, of course, a few trinkets. I swear, that impudent five-year-old couldn't go fifteen seconds without 'ooh!'ing and 'ah!'ing at the most simple, domestic technology. He nearly sold his left arm for an egg beater, Ianto. He literally nearly sold his left arm."

Ianto frowned with an amused smirk. "His left arm?"

"He said that he was right-handed; why would he need his left arm? Of course, I had to convince the vendor to not chop it off, seeing as Time Lords don't grow appendages back like Uuruugians do."

"That sounds like an adventure."

"The Doctor is stupid. He manages to turn everything into an adventure. The other day, we were having sex and he just couldn't stop blabbing about his adventures with Rose Tyler. It was a hell of a turn-off. It seems the only time I can get some decent sex around here is if I..." the Master trailed off. Ianto expected more out of the sentence, but he got nothing. 

"Is if you what?" he demanded, his curiosity taking over. The Master shifted, causing Estelle to jump off of his lap and giving himself a way out. He slid off of the bed and toward the door, which Ianto thought was quite odd. The Master didn't seem one to run from an uncomfortable situation - hell, he was usually the ones causing the uncomfortable situation.

"Master?" Ianto wondered. The Master put a hand on the door jamb, grinned wickedly, and winked back at Ianto. "You'll have to ask the Doctor yourself. He explains it much better than I ever could."

He left with a cruel chuckle, leaving Ianto alone with Estelle. She mewled up at him and he ran a thumb over the top of her head while staring at the door that the Master had closed behind him. He had a feeling that the story - which the Master neglected to tell - was a rather horrifying one. His mind flicked through the possibilities without his permission and he figured that he would need to speak about it with Jack.

 

The Doctor looked at Jack and finally realized how long he must've been talking. He'd chattered all the way to the court of King Henry before he realized that Jack was still listening. He stopped in the middle of his sentence and blushed deeply. "Sorry, you know me. Once I get started..."

"Sorry for what?" Jack demanded. The Doctor could tell that he was genuinely confused at what he was sorry for - which was wasting the Captain's time with his babble. He squirmed uncomfortably and jumped off of the bench and fiddled with some TARDIS controls. He pretended to make sure that they were still floating in empty space and cleared his throat. "Well... there's probably somewhere you should be. You could spend some time with your Ianto. We should do that! Do something together, that is."

"Doctor?" he heard Jack say behind him. He fell silent, but didn't turn around. He heard Jack trying to formulate his question, and then the Captain asked: "What are you doing to punish him?"

The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat. He swallowed a couple of times and then carded a hand through his hair and scratched the nape of his neck. "Wh-what?" he stuttered, trying to remain as innocent as possible. He felt as if he was going to vomit. 

"You heard me. What are you doing to punish him?"

"Wh-who? The Master? Well..."

"Obviously the Master, Doctor. He's done something wrong - more than wrong, it's disgusting. You've got to punish him. You can't just let him have his way with you and never suffer the consequences of his actions. You won't let me kill him, won't let me torture him... what are you doing to punish him?"

The Doctor turned around and leaned on the console, avoiding eye contact. "Well... I suppose I'll come up with something sooner or later..."

"What? You're telling me you don't have a way of punishing him?"

"I just... I haven't been in my right mind, you know?"

"Because he raped you!"

"N-no, no! Well, maybe, but that's not what's important! I'll figure out a way to punish him. Maybe I'll lock him in his room!"

"He'd love that, and you know it. He's got a TV, books, everything. Think of something better," Jack commanded darkly. The Doctor cleared his throat nervously and thought hard. 

"Well... maybe I wouldn't give him his medicine. At first, he'd like it, of course. But after a while... the drums will start to get to him. It would hurt. I can't do that, Jack!" the Doctor pleaded. Jack pursed his lips and crossed his arms, and the Doctor felt like his eyes were burning into him. "F-fine. I'll do that. I don't want to hurt him, though!"

"He hurt you. He deserves it - hell, he deserves more than that!" Jack cried. The Doctor shook his head adamantly. "No. I won't let you do... that. You'll be no better than he is."

"At least he'd be getting what he deserves."

"I can't let you sacrifice yourself for something he did. I'll just hide his medication in the infirmary somewhere, so he can't go looking for it when the drums hit," the Doctor mused. After a moment, he made a guilty face and scrubbed a hand through his bushy hair. "Aw, I hate doing this," he admitted. "It's cruel."

"What he did to you is cruel."

"I told you! I egged him on!"

"Doctor, stop. Come on, give me his meds. If you hide them, you'll know where they are, and then you'll probably feel bad for the bastard and give them to him. If I have them, there's no way in Hell they're getting to the Master unless by express order of you."

"I don't give orders," the Doctor grumbled. He let the matter drop and he lead Jack to the infirmary. After a few moments of rifling through cupboards, he extracted the bottle of the Master's antipsychotics and handed it to Jack. The Captain glared at the bottle for a moment before slipping it into his pocket. "What happens when he doesn't take his medication on time?"

The Doctor fidgeted for a moment, and then replied very quietly. "The drums... they're louder and harder than they've ever been. If the Master doesn't take his medicine, they'll become overpowering. Painful."

"Good."

The Doctor's hearts nearly stopped at the ice in Jack's voice. Had the Doctor done this to him? Had he turned him into this person, so capable of hate? The Doctor didn't doubt it, even when Jack had a history in the infamous Time Agency. He sighed, stuck his hands in the pockets of his trousers, and wandered off into the TARDIS. He needed to get away - be alone. To get away from everything. He found himself in the archives, where he kept some artifacts from his journeys. He extracted the trinkets from Y67 Three from his pockets and gently set them on the shelves. He wandered around, occasionally wiping the dust off of some older shelves and sighing. The Doctor blinked slowly and stood still, not wanting to go anywhere - not having the motivation nor the energy to go anywhere. He spotted a sofa about ten meters away and stared at it for a few moments while he worked up the motivation to trot across the floor until he reached it. The sofa was a bit dusty, but it would do. He collapsed onto it and let himself sink into the cushions, close his eyes, and take a deep breath.

 

He woke to frantic tapping on his shoulder and blinked slowly up at the Master, who was looking terrified. There were tears in his eyes, and one hand was on the Doctor's shoulder, while the other was gripping a handful of hair on the Master's own head. "Get-it's-I need my medication, D-doctor, I n-need-"

"I don't have it," the Doctor mumbled, feeling his hearts break. The Master's face betrayed his confusion and pain and as he blinked, a tear dropped from his lashes and splashed onto the Doctor's neck. "I can't-what do you mean? Where-where are they?" the Master demanded. He looked so fragile. The Doctor regretted giving the medication to Jack.

"I'm sorry, Master. I told Jack about what you did, and he told me that I needed to punish you... it's your own fault."

The Master's face shriveled into an expression of fear, pain, and befuddlement. He let out a sharp breath and the Doctor's eyes caught the fistful of hair tightening, the psychopath's knuckles were white from effort. The Doctor blinked slowly again, feeling so out of tune with himself. "Wh-what? Y-you gave the medication to Girlie?"

There it was, again. That psychotic tone creeping into the edge of his voice. The Doctor grimaced and sat up on the sofa. He was sore from his nap - and the bruises on his thighs and arse were a painful reminder of what brought them to this. 

"I can't-why?" Now there was just hurt in the psychopath's voice. The Doctor reached out a hand to take the Master's, but the pained Time Lord yanked away and stumbled back, crashed into a shelf and collapsed to the floor. It was horrible, seeing him like this; the Master was always so graceful and composed, but there he was. Sobbing on the floor inside a circle of broken glass in front of the Doctor. The latter steadily got to his feet and padded over, crouched in front of the maniac and tried to see into his eyes. "Master, please, you've got to know you deserve this," he whispered. The Master sobbed.

"Please, tell me you know what you did was wrong."

He reached out to close his fingers around the hand that was in the Master's hair, hoping he could pry it loose, but the Master reacted suddenly and frighteningly. He seized forward, spitting, hissing, growling, and knocked the Doctor onto his back. The Doctor felt hands closing around his neck and gasped desperately for air, seeing flashes of the Master's assault pass in front of his eyes. He frantically tried to push the Master off of him, kicked the best he could, gasped for air. Everything was closing down around him, the world fading to black, the Master's rage-filled, glistening eyes burning into his own, spittle flying from the madman's lips as he screamed with pure rage. The Doctor tried to anchor himself in reality, feel how cold the Master's hands were around his throat, and finally was able to hoarsely plead, "Master..."

The Time Lord's eyes flew wide and he released his hold on the Doctor's throat, stumbled back, and dropped into the fetal position. The Doctor gasped for air, coughed, drunk more oxygen in, laying his head back on the concrete floor. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried not to cry. He needed to be the strong one, now. His throat ached something terrible, new bruises added to the older ones, his windpipe burnt like he was inhaling sandpaper. He could hear his own wheezing and the Master's frightened, agonized sobbing, and that was it. There was no other sound in the archives. "Master, tell me that you deserve this," he finally breathed. The Master shook his head, either saying he didn't deserve this or he couldn't speak. The Doctor didn't have the energy to get up and walk over, so he just crawled over to the Master and gently laid a hand on his knee. "Master, you have to understand. What you did is wrong. I couldn't just let you go without punishment, could I? You never would've learned anything."

"So you just leave me here to rot?" came the muffled, angry response. The Doctor sighed and picked at the hem of the Master's rumpled black trousers. Even his suit looked as off as he did. "I'm not leaving you to rot. Don't be dramatic. You... I hate to say this, but you've got to be punished. What you did was wrong," he repeated sternly. The Master didn't reply, but the Doctor could hear him fighting off screams. 

"Do they hurt that bad?" he wondered after a moment.

"They always hurt."

"But... the medication..."

"Numbs the pain," the Master replied defeatedly. The Doctor's hearts sunk into his stomach. "Master, I'm so sorry... I just don't know how to handle the drums. I've never had to handle anything like this before."

The Master laughed tersely before clutching his head just a bit harder. "Handle something like me?"

"Don't be a twit, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"Sure."

The conversation seemed to distract the Master from the drums, pounding away in his skull, so the Doctor laid down on the floor next to the Master, folded his arms behind his head, and mulled over what to say next. "I really am sorry, Master. For doing this to you, I mean. I didn't want to, but Jack's right."

The Master didn't reply, and the Doctor got the sense that he was cross with him, so he quickly tried to repair the damage. "I'm doing you a favor, you know."

"Oh?" the Master laughed bitterly. The Doctor nodded and sniffed. "Jack offered to torture you, for me," he replied amicably. Now, the Master laughed for real. He laughed for quite some time, seeing that the pain in his head must've been near unbearable, but when the laughter did die down, he chuckled a couple more times and added, "He'd be awful at it."

"Oh? What makes you so sure?"

"He's too... soft. Of course, he could've learnt a trick or two on the Valiant."

"See? He might be a very good torturer!"

"Not bloody likely. He doesn't have the guts."

"He works in Torchwood! Of course he has the guts!"

"New Torchwood. Old Torchwood I could see having operatives with specialities mainly for torture, but New Torchwood was made to honour your name. Of course, none of them would know the first thing about real torture."

"I'm sure you would guide him along, being the masochist you are."

"Ah, yes. That I would, Doctor; you know me so well."

"I didn't think it was possible for someone to be a masochist and a sadist at the same time until I met you, Master."

"Well, of course, there's always yourself to take into consideration."

The Doctor frowned. He turned his head to look at the Master, who was stretched out like a cat next to him, propped up on his elbows and not looking at the Doctor. "What's that supposed to mean?" the latter demanded. The Master shrugged and did that thing with his lips that the Doctor loved so much - although he would die before confessing that. 

"Nothing."

"It obviously means something, Master, or else you wouldn't have said it!"

The Master rolled onto his side and looked directly into the Doctor's eyes as he suggested abruptly, "Let's have sex."

"What?" the Doctor spluttered. He lifted himself into a sitting position and the Master followed suit. "You heard me," he replied nonchalantly. The Doctor looked at him with befuddlement - he couldn't believe the madman's audacity! He knew the Master was insane, but... he didn't think he was this bad! "Are you mad?" he demanded, and then he realized that yes, the Master was mad. 

"We are not having sex!" he shouted instead. The Master rolled his eyes and huffed out a dramatic sigh.

"Is this because of the rape thing? Alright, yeah, I'm sorry. Blah, blah, blah, now take your clothes off."

"N-no!" the Doctor squealed indignantly. He shot to his feet, and the Master rolled his eyes again. "What? I said I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, but you're not!"

"Of course I am! Come on, we can use the sofa over there."

"Master, you are not coming anywhere near me, after that!"

The Master sighed a second time and stood, brushed off his suit, and winced at the pounding in his head. The Doctor glared down at him heatedly, incapable of believing he was serious - but knowing for a fact that he was deadly serious. "Is this some sort of twisted punishment?" the maniac demanded.

"Yes!"

"I thought my punishment was witholding my medication."

"It is!"

"More than one punishment? That's extreme, Doctor, even for you."

"Well, I didn't think you would stoop as low as rape - for me, at least; Rassilon knows what you did to those poor people on the Valiant - but you did that without even blinking, didn't you?"

"Come off it! You egged me on!"

"That's not an excuse!" the Doctor cried. He realized that Jack must've been right in the console room, or he wouldn't have said that. 

"Aw, come on. One teensy-weensy little fuck never hurt anyone."

"Yes, it has, and we're not doing that again!" the Doctor commanded, backing away from the Master. The other Time Lord grinned viciously and took a few catlike steps toward the Doctor, who backed away appropriately. The Doctor hit a wall and was trapped between two shelves, and the Master came even closer, until they were only an inch apart and the Doctor could feel the deranged man's cool breath on his face. The breath that smelt of cinnamon and mint leaves. The Doctor's breath, however, evaded him. He struggled to suck in air, but his lungs weren't working. His hearts were beating too fast as the madman who had raped him looked as if he was about to do it again. There it was, that insane glitter in the Master's eyes that he'd seen on the Valiant, that was always there when he wasn't on his medication. The Doctor realized what a horrible mistake he'd made. "See, Doctor, look what you've done," the Master began softly, sending an unpleasant chill down the Doctor's back and turning his stomach inside-out. "Now, the drums are in control. And they want me-"

He ran a finger down the Doctor's chest with a predatory smile.

"-to do some very bad things. And you can't stop me, can you? I can do whatever I want to you, and you can't do anything in return. Deny me consensual sex - I'll just take it. See, once I get accustomed to these things pounding in my skull again, I get comfortable with them again. I wonder how I've ever lived without them, these drums. So, Doctor," he spat menacingly. He leaned in close, so that his lips brushed against the Doctor's neck, but it was more a sinister and threatening gesture than an affectionate one. "what are you going to do about it?"

It took a bit for the Doctor to conjure up enough oxygen to speak, but even when he had air in his lungs he only spoke with a terrified, hoarse whisper. "I'll-I'll scream," he threatened weakly. "I'll call for help. Jack or Ianto will hear me, they'll come and help me."

The Master's laugh was icy. The Doctor felt his finger tugging at the waistband of the Doctor's trousers and he tried to seize away - but he just slammed into the wall behind him and cowered there. The Master swiftly undid the Doctor's trousers and shoved his hand into his pants, making the Doctor gasp and sob at the same time. "No, Master, please don't - please don't do that to me again, Master, please," he begged, near silent. He realized that he had arms and shoved the Master away, who didn't protest or get angry. All he did was laugh. His awful, terrifying, unnerving eyes pierced into the Doctor. And then, he walked away.

Once he was out of sight, the Doctor could breathe again. All the strength drained from his legs and he crumpled to the floor, gasping and sobbing, eyes wide open, terrified that the Master would change his mind, come back, and finish what he started. Hurriedly, he fastened his trousers and then sat there, focusing on calming his breathing. Once he was calm, he figured that he would need to track the Master down and make sure that he was okay. At least, not psychotic. He sprinted out of the archives and followed the Master’s scent, which lead him on a short jog down the corridor. He found the Master huddled in the fetal position, leaning heavily on the wall next to him and sobbing loudly. The Doctor noticed his fingers brutally pulling on his own hair and rushed to the Master’s rescue. When he went to put his arms around the Master, however, that was clearly unacceptable. The Time Lord shoved the Doctor away and vehemently hissed, “Stay the fuck away from me.”  
The Doctor didn't think that the Master was the one that should be angry right now, but he obeyed the Master’s wish and backed away. The Master tossed him a heated glare and returned to cradling his head in his hands. “They're so loud, Doctor. They're louder than they've ever been. Why? Why are they so loud, now?”

“I dunno, Master. Maybe if you go to bed, they'll get better for a bit.”

“Stop that!” the Master cried abruptly, nearly cutting the Doctor off. The taller Time Lord frowned and crouched in front of the madman, who didn't even recognize his existence. “I said, stop it!” he shouted at the invisible person in front of him. The Doctor’s hearts sunk with the guilt, but he remained quiet, curious as to how this would all play out. The Master squeezed his eyes shut, and then opened them with a childlike frown. “I'm not! I said stop it!”

He growled in frustration and hit his head with his hands a couple of times. “No, I won't. Shut up, shut up!” The Doctor couldn't watch this for much longer. He stood and left the Master alone, telling himself over and over that the Master deserved this, that he'd done this to himself.


	9. Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master is incapacitated, as far as we know. The Doctor is trying to care for him, but Jack isn't helping much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm SO sorry that took so long. Life has not been going well so recently, and I wasn't able to publish any more chapters while I was in a mental hospital, haha. I hope you enjoy the new chapters!

In the few days that had passed, Jack had Ianto filled in on what the Master had done. Jack was looking as him with concern when he heaved out a great big sigh. “Is the Doctor okay?” he asked. Now, it was Jack’s turn to sigh and raise a hand to his forehead. He massaged the bridge of his nose and then sighed again. “The Doctor… he's the Doctor.”

“So… he's pretending, then?”

Jack chortled a little bit at the mortal’s knowingness. “Yeah, he's pretending,” he admitted. Ianto ran a hand through his tidy hair, which Jack knew for a fact he only did when he was nervous. “Oh, God,” Ianto sighed, leaning on the dresser of his and Jack’s shared bedroom. “He raped him, Jack! What're we gonna do now?”

“We have to be okay. For the Doctor. And stay away from him, Yan, I mean it,” Jack warned. Was that a blush on Ianto's cheeks? Jack didn't give himself time to worry about it. “You know,” Jack added after a moment of silence, “you should leave.”

“Jack-”

“No, Ianto, it's the only safe thing for you. Go back to Torchwood, get back in the game, and forget all this.”

“No,” Ianto said firmly. Jack frowned at him, but realized that he wasn't going to get anywhere by trying to persuade Ianto to leave, so he just took the teaboy’s hand and held it tightly. “Listen, Ianto, whatever happens here, whatever he does to either of us, I just want to let you know that I-”

“Jack?” called the Doctor’s voice, cutting the frustrated immortal off. He looked at Ianto for one long moment, debating whether to finish what he was going to say. As the Doctor bounded into the console room, all smiles and pinstripes, Jack made up his mind and let go of Ianto’s hand. Not before the Doctor could catch a glimpse of their hands together and his face faltered just a bit. “Oh, sorry… wrong time? I can come back later…” 

“No, no, it's fine,” Jack stuttered. He thought he saw Ianto’s face falter just a bit, but he dismissed it as a trick of the light. Yes, his hand did feel that much colder having left Ianto's, and yes, he felt a little hold open up in his soul when he wasn't close to his teaboy, but there were more important things to deal with in this TARDIS than a bit of homosexual romance. He grinned winningly at the Doctor, and as far as he could tell, Ianto had adopted his “innocent butler” smile - that honestly made Jack want to fuck the “innocent” part out of him - and the Doctor beamed back at them. “Well, the Master wanted to go clubbing… and I was wondering if you two would like to join us?” the Time Lord offered. Jack squinted at him incredulously. 

“You're taking him outside again, after what he did?” he demanded. The Doctor looked down as his trainers, his fat bottom lip sticking out. “Well… not exactly. I've got this-this special room for him, exclusively for all his dancing and… erm, other needs,” he explained. Jack looked over at Ianto, who returned with a shrug. “I haven't been clubbing in a while. Might be a bit dull, though, what with only the four of us being there,” he observed. The Doctor seemed to brighten at the opportunity to explain himself. Oh, he did love talking, that Doctor. Jack didn't mind, he liked listening to the Time Lord babbling off about whatever he pleased. 

“Well, see, that's not the situation! I've programmed the club to fill itself with hard-light holograms whenever someone enters. Cue lights, action, music, et cetera. I've really outdone myself on this one, even with the Master helping.”

“The Master helped?” Jack demanded with hostility. The Doctor shook his head vigorously, his hair flapping this way and that. “No, no, no! It's not what you think! I didn't let him touch a single control, of course - and this was quite a while ago; when he first joined me on the TARDIS, actually. No, he was just leaning over my shoulder and watching, sometimes adding comments or suggestions.”

“How can you be sure that he didn't touch anything?”

“Because if he had, the TARDIS would've sent fifteen-thousand volts through his nervous system. That sort of electricity could temporarily paralyze a Time Lord, and it would be painful. Very painful. And, of course, there would be sparks flying everywhere so yeah, I'm fairly certain he didn't stick his hand into a field of paralyzing electricity.”

Jack rolled his eyes playfully and heard Ianto’s breathy chuckle next to him. The teaboy slipped his hand into Jack’s - his hands were so soft - and the Doctor glanced down, the corner of his lips raised in a small smile, but he pretended not to notice and instead danced around the lovers and lead them down one of the corridors of the infinite TARDIS. Jack still could hardly wrap his head around that “infinite” bit, but he figured that he shouldn't think about it too much, or his head might start to hurt. He and Ianto kept their fingers tightly linked as they ran to keep up with the excited Time Lord, who brought them to a rich, wooden door that matched many other doors in this place. “The club is in here. When you enter, everything automatically turns itself on. I. The front, there's a DJ station where you can choose from my unlimited selection of music - the TARDIS has collected everything! I'll be right there, I've just got to go fetch the Master from his room. I've decided that he can't be trusted to roam around the TARDIS by himself after that last escapade, so he has to stay in his room when there isn't anyone to escort him.”

Jack bristled and stepped toward the Doctor. “I'll go with you,” he insisted. The Doctor began to protest, but Ianto tugged him back and murmured, “He’ll be fine, Jack. Come on, we can get a dance started while he's away,”

Reluctantly, Jack tightened his hold on Ianto’s hand and let Ianto pull him into the club. As soon as they entered, the once-empty and dark room burst to life, filling itself with music, people, furniture, and strobe lights. Jack was devastatingly impressed - it even had that musty, humid club stench and a sweltering heat. He grinned at his teaboy and shrugged off his coat, tossed it on a nearby table. Maintaining his grip on Ianto's hand, he gently pushed through the crowd until they reached the DJ booth, where Jack filtered through the ancient Earth music until he found what he was looking for. Quickly, he tapped on the touchscreen and dragged Ianto back into the crowd - but stayed near the edge, so he could see when the Doctor and the psychopath came in. The lights dimmed and became considerably less colorful as Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” began playing over the high quality speakers. Jack assumed that the Doctor had also programmed the club to adjust the settings for the intimacy, or speed of any given song. Clever, that Doctor. He took Ianto’s hip and pressed them close together as he started to sway to the familiar tune. Pleasant memories of himself and Rose Tyler flashed behind the lids of his closed eyes and he smiled dreamily. He liked the way Ianto smelled, and it drowned out the acrid stench of the club air. His teaboy smelled like hazelnut coffee and cherry pie. 

He saw the room brightening through his eyelids and opened them to find the door of the club swing open, and the two Time Lords were trying to secretly step inside. The Doctor’s roaming eyes hadn't found Jack and Ianto yet, which gave Jack time to glance down at their hands. They were holding hands. The Doctor was holding hands with the Master. Had he forgotten everything the Master had done? He nearly committed genocide on the human race, tortured and killed so many, killed Jack more times than he could count, he'd raped Tish, Francine, and even Lucy. And, he'd raped the Doctor. Twice. Nearly a third time. And now, the Doctor was holding hands with him like the Master was his fucking Valentine. It made Jack’s blood boil. Apparently, he'd tensed up without realizing it and Ianto pulled away from him slightly, just so he could see the Captain’s face. “Jack, what's-”

He saw where Jack’s eyes were glued and turned just as the Doctor found them and dropped the Master’s hand. “What's wrong?” Ianto asked gently once he'd turned back to face his lover. Jack didn't have time to answer, however, before the Doctor had bounded over. The Master didn't follow and stuck his hands into his pockets, pursed his lips, and surveyed the crowd with a hungry eye. Jack saw the Doctor’s stupid grin and didn't mention anything, didn't let him know how furious he was. He grinned back.   
“Doctor!” he had to shout over the music, even if it was a slow song. Ianto stood back a bit, but neither of them stopped touching each other. Ianto kept his hand on Jack's arm, and Jack kept his arm around Ianto’s waist. He needed his anchor right now. “What's this? Glenn Miller? Good choice!” the Doctor congratulated them. Jack laughed and gestured toward the DJ booth behind him and through the crowd, but didn't spare it a glance. “You can pick out something a little more exciting, if you want!” he offered. The Time Lord laughed, his hands shoved into the pockets of his pinstriped trousers as he shouted, “I think the Master’s already on it!”

True enough, when Jack turned around, the Master was standing behind the DJ booth and scrolling through the songs, his lips pursed and his cheeks sucked in thoughtfully. He half-smiled to himself and then he tapped on a song, and the Glenn Miller cut out abruptly. It was soon replaced with a song that turned Jack’s blood to ice in his veins. This was one of the Master’s favorite songs to play on the Valiant while he was publicly fucking one of his toys. Including, but not limited to, Jack and the Doctor. The psychopath grinned widely and danced into the crowd, took a lovely woman - who was the spitting image of Lucy Saxon - by the hips, and began dancing. Had seen his fair share of dancing - he himself had danced quite a bit in his long life - but he'd never seen anything like what the Master was doing to that girl. It was simply the dirtiest dance that Jack had ever witnessed, and the Captain couldn't help it if he was a little bit impressed. He noticed the Doctor's eyes shifting over to the Master every couple seconds and could tell that he was just as blown away as Jack, but neither of them brought it up. 

“The dancing and the loud music helps with the drums, and I find it quite fun!” the Doctor shouted over the loud, rock-esque music. Jack grinned and nodded at him, not sure if he could force more than a choked whisper out of his tight throat. He didn't want to be this close to tears, and he had no idea why he was this close to tears, but he was determined not to cry right now. This simply wasn't the right time to cry; this was the time to have fun! Jack reckoned he could manage to keep his eyes off of the Master - granted, of course, that the Master could keep his filthy hands off of the Doctor. Jack's Doctor. He didn't have much choice but to have a good time, and he wasn't about to let the Master stand in his way of happiness. He twirled Ianto around and lead him in a very energetic tango that didn't quite match the tune of the rather erotic song, but that didn't matter. He heard the Doctor laugh rather loudly and then engage with a complete stranger dancing, taking her hand and whirling her around. 

 

Of course, this club had drinks. Ianto and Jack had no idea what they were, but that didn't stop them at all. If they were going to party, they were going to party right. Both of them were sitting at the bar, now, swallowing drinks that tasted like a combination of whisky, vodka, and something like strawberries. They packed a massive punch, and the two lovers were seeing doubles in no time. Jack downed the rest of his drink, grabbed Ianto’s hand, and dragged him out to the dance floor, where the speakers were emitting another song by the Scissor Sisters. Of course, the Master had his very own playlist, jam-packed with Scissor Sisters, Rogue Traders, and all sorts of nonsense. Jack took Ianto’s hand and they swayed deliriously, and the Captain pressed his forehead against Ianto’s. “Ianto, I l-”

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt arms wrapping around his waist and pulling him away from his lover. A quick glance at the intruder told Jack that she was a complete stranger, and more wasted than he and Ianto. He reluctantly let her drag him away, and glanced over at Ianto to see that he’d gotten his own admirer. Jack grinned at his teaboy and mouthed, "sorry," with a shrug. Ianto beamed at him and mouthed, "don’t worry about it," back.

"I’m not the only ladies man around here, am I?"

"I have hidden charm."  
"Apparently." Jack looked the girl over and smirked with a glint in his eye. "You gonna hit that?"

Ianto just looked incredulous and mouthed, "what?!"

"Are you gonna shag her?"

"In here?"

"I doubt she can leave the room. Go on, then, there’s nothing to be shy about!"

Jack could see Ianto’s heavy blush even through the darkness and the strobe lights of the room, and laughed to himself. He continued dancing with the gorgeous dame that had pulled him aside, until something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. The silhouettes of two men, one shorter than the other and pressing the taller one against the wall. They were kissing heatedly, barely even stopping for breath - that, or breathing through their noses and not minding the acrid stench of the air around them - and the right hand of the shorter man was holding the back of the taller man’s neck. Jack dimly grew aware of who they might be, although his intoxicated brain struggled to remain focused. The taller man had his left hand around the back of the dominant man’s neck as they pressed their lips together. Jack couldn’t see the shorter man’s right arm, but he was sure that it was winding around the Doctor’s hips and caressing the Doctor’s rear. And then, it hit him. The Master and the Doctor. The Master and the Doctor, making out. The Master, with his hands on the Doctor - with his lips on the Doctor’s. And the Doctor… well, the Doctor was letting it happen. He was endorsing it, for Christ’s sake, by kissing the damn maniac back! Jack shoved the girl who was dancing with him away and stormed toward the Time Lords. He clamped his hand on the Master’s shoulder and raised his balled-up hand to punch him, but before he could even move, he felt the Master’s fist plunging into his face, breaking his nose and sending him crashing to the floor. 

 

The Doctor’s senses were dulled, but that was okay. It was too hot in here, but that was okay, too. The air stunk, but that was alright. The music was too loud and sent vibrations through the Doctor, but that was fine. The Master’s lips were soft, and his body was cool, and he smelled like pine needles and whipped cream. The Doctor couldn’t remember when they’d started kissing, when the Master had first pressed him against the wall, but that didn’t matter. He was happy here. There was no insinuations of sex, no obligations, just their lips and their bodies pressed together. At one point, the Master’s hand had snaked around the Doctor’s waist and taken a great big handful of the Doctor’s rear, but he didn’t mind. He put his hand on the Master’s and kept it there, moving with the sadist’s as he stroked and squeezed. The other hand wrapped around the back of the Master’s neck and pressed their faces closer, just like the Master’s other hand was doing to him. The Doctor couldn’t remember the last time he had been able to kiss the Master for as long as they liked, without the expectations of sex afterwards. Of course, he couldn’t read the Master’s mind, but he could get a distinct sense that the Master didn’t mind if he wasn’t given pleasure - or if he didn’t take it. The Master’s natural scent was soothing, his touch was gentle, and his body was comfortably cool. The only other Time Lord in the Universe. He liked the feeling of the Master’s tongue prodding at his, the cool, wet sensation invading his mouth and winding around his own tongue. Abruptly, the tongue was yanked out of the Doctor’s mouth, the hands and lips were torn away from the taller Time Lord’s and the coolness of the Master’s body disappeared. He opened his eyes and blinked groggily, not sure what happened. He stared unresponsively at the two men that were standing before him and just watched as the Master drove his fist into Captain Jack Harkness’ face. Finally, he could process the information and jumped forward to pull the Master away from the human, but it seemed that the psychopath had no intentions of bringing further harm to Jack. He didn’t pull away from the Doctor’s hold, however, and flexed his hand, breathing heavily with adrenaline. “Jack, what happened?” the Doctor demanded as he left the Master’s side to kneel next to the immortal. The Master scoffed. “Oh, you’re asking him? Doctor, he attacked me!” he cried. The Doctor whirled around and glared up at him, giving him a silent command to be quiet.   
“You’re making out with him?” Jack shouted angrily. The Doctor turned back to face him, and he felt his hearts drop.

“Oh, you’re not actually listening to that ape! He’s just jealous that he can’t shove his tongue down your throat!” the Master interrupted. The Doctor gave him The Glare again and then helped Jack to his feet, who was nursing his broken nose. The Time Lord caught Ianto running over out of the corner of his eye and sighed to himself. This wasn’t what he needed right now. What he needed were the Master’s lips on his. “What happened?” Ianto demanded, wrapping his arm around Jack’s waist supportively. Jack didn’t take his vengeful eyes off of the Master as he lifted a hand to his bleeding nose and told Ianto, “He tried to work his way back into the Doctor’s trousers, that’s what happened.”

“Jack-”

“I’m not ‘working my way’ into anything! I was kissing him, for Rassilon’s sake!” the Master shouted back. Jack took an aggressive step toward him, and the two were lucky that the Doctor and Ianto were there to stop them. “That’s my point, you fucking dick!”

“Watch how you speak to a Lord of Time, maggot!”

“Bloodsucking lunatic!”

“Parasite!”

“Listen, you two, now stop it!” the Doctor interjected, stepping between the feuding men. He was afraid that the Master would blow a fuse and become what he was like when Jack and Ianto first boarded the TARDIS. He kept a hand on the Master’s chest, which was heaving, but after a few moments he could feel the Master’s hearts slowing down a bit. He heard the madman cry out in pain and raise his hands to his head. He let out a whimper - which was barely heard over the music thundering on all sides. Ianto took a glance at the Master and seemed to know what was wrong, and then rushed over to the DJ booth. “Ianto, what’re you doing?” the Doctor shouted over the music. The teaboy turned back to him and gestured to the DJ booth, slid his finger across his throat, gestured to the Master, and then gestured to his own head. The Doctor shook his head vigorously, and then Ianto jogged back to where they were. 

“What’s wrong?”

“The music helps with the drums! Just leave it be!”

Ianto nodded and then stepped over to Jack, who looked at him like he was betraying him. The teaboy looked at Jack worriedly. “You’re trying to help him?” the Captain demanded. Before Ianto could answer him, Jack stormed off and slammed the door of the club behind him. Ianto looked between the Doctor and the door, and then ran after his Captain. The Doctor turned back to the Master and sat on the grimy floor beside him. “It’s alright, it’s okay. Hey, hey, hey, tell me what’s wrong,” he coaxed. The Master trembled and clenched fistfuls of his hair in his hands, but the Doctor massaged his hands loose and pressed a kiss to his head. “It’s alright, I’m here. I’ll protect you; you’re safe with me.”

“They hurt, Doctor,” the Master whimpered. The Doctor looped one arm around the Master’s shoulders and held him closer. “It’s alright; you can tell me,” he whispered back. He rested his mouth on the Master’s head and waited for him to speak.

“They never stop, they just go on and on and on and on and on…”

“Tell me what I can do to help.”

“I need my medication, Doctor… you need to give it to me.”

The Doctor felt his hearts breaking and tightened his hold just a bit more on the Master. “No, Master, anything but that. Tell me what helps them, but you know I can’t give the drugs to you until you’ve learned your lesson.”

“I’ve learned it, alright?” the Master snapped. The Doctor would’ve gotten defensive, but there were tears in the other Time Lord’s eyes. “Please, Doctor,” the Master was begging. Now, the Doctor knew how much the drums must’ve heard him, because the Master never stooped as low as begging. Never. He put on a brave face and helped the Master to his feet, but the Time Lord was a heavy load, hardly able to carry himself. He helped the Master through the crowd and then they exited the club, and once they’d closed the door, it returned to an empty, cool, dark room. The Doctor looped an arm around the Master’s waist and helped one of the Master’s arms drape around his shoulders, and all the tension in his body and the muffled noises coming from his mouth told the Doctor that the Master was holding back screams. They found the Master’s bedroom in no time, and the Doctor laid the Master on the bed, who was in too much agony to ask questions before the Doctor could sprint out of the room and send a psychic plea up to the TARDIS to bring him to Captain Jack Harkness. She did as he had asked in moments, and the Doctor found himself in front of the Captain’s own bedroom. He burst in the door to find Ianto on the bed, alone and watching television. “Where’s Jack?” the Doctor demanded instantly. Ianto took a moment to register what was happening and silently gestured to the bathroom. The bathroom door was adjacent, but the Doctor could smell the scent of lavender shampoo and humidity, and he sprinted into the bathroom, unannounced and fearless. Thankfully, the shower door was closed and the glass was foggy. The Doctor could only see Jack’s silhouette through the panes and the humidity of the air. “Jack! I need the Master’s medication back, now!” the Doctor called urgently. The shower door opened just enough for Jack to stick his head out, his wet hair dripping onto the tile. “What? No way!” he insisted.

“Jack, this was my decision. I’m responsible for the Master, and I need his medication!” the Doctor begged. Jack pursed his lips so that they formed a slim line on his face as he stared at the Doctor and tried to make up his mind. The Doctor could sense him thinking, and desperately hoped that he would obey. “Jack…” he pleaded. Finally, Jack closed his eyes, as if he could barely stand the thought of it, and sighed heavily. “Fine. They’re in… they’re underneath Ianto’s pillow, in his bed,” the human confessed. The Doctor stayed in place for a moment, and then thanked him and sprinted out. When he left Jack’s bedroom, he found that his and Ianto’s bedrooms were adjacent, and he burst into the teaboy’s room, knowing that Ianto wasn’t there. He ran to his bed and threw away his pillows, which revealed the Master’s pill bottle. Hastily, the Doctor scooped the pills up and sprinted out.

When he reached the infirmary, the Master was lying on the floor, curled into a ball and digging his nails into his scalp. The Doctor knelt by him and put a gentle hand on his head and coaxed his hands away. “Hey, I’ve got it. Come on, open your mouth,” he coaxed. The Master barely lifted his head and feebly opened his mouth to let the Doctor slip three pills inside. After a few minutes, the Doctor watched the Master’s hands relax and he sighed in relief. He cupped his hands around the smaller Time Lord’s cheeks and lifted the Master’s head. “How d’you feel?” he inquired. The Master panted for a few moments and took a deep breath. 

“No, no, no, no, no…” he breathed. The Doctor’s eyebrows knit together in concern and he ran a hand over the Master’s back soothingly. “What’s wrong, Master?”

“I can’t… can’t, can’t, won’t, cannot, will not, can’t.”

“Can’t what? Tell me.”

“Stop him, stop him, he’ll hurt more people! More and more and more and more…” the Master whimpered. The Doctor frowned and put his fingers on the Master’s temples. He hoped that he would be delirious enough to let him past his mental barriers - although, the Doctor wasn’t sure what he would find. “Let me in,” he whispered comfortingly. He thought he felt the gates buckle a bit, but then they were put back up, stronger than ever. “Master, stop. Let me in, I can help-”

“...cannot, will not, can’t…”

“Stop, and let me in-”

“...cannot, will not, can’t!”

The Doctor sat back and gave up. He huffed out a sigh and stood, and then bent over to help the Master to his feet. He looked up at the Doctor with big, brown eyes, silently pleading him. “Lucy?” he wondered. The Doctor heard something in his voice that reminded him of a young, innocent child. He smiled softly and gently shook his head. “No, not Lucy.”

“Where’s Lucy?”

“She’s… she’s not here. Come on, Master.”

“Who’s ‘Master’?”

“You are,” the Doctor informed him as he guided the Master out of the infirmary. The Master looked down at his shoes and shook his head. “I’m not Master. I’m Harry. Harry Saxon.”

“Alright. Come on, Harry. Let’s get you to your bedroom.”

“Bedroom, bedroom, bedroom… will Lucy be there?”

“Lucy won’t be there. Be quiet, Harry,” the Doctor urged as he opened the door to the Master’s bedroom. Inside, it looked exactly like his bedroom aboard the Valiant, which prompted another “Lucy?” from the Master. The Doctor didn’t answer, and instead lead the Master to his bed and sat him on it. “Will Lucy meet me here?” the mad Time Lord wondered. The Doctor gently pressed his lips to the top of the Master’s head, rested his chin there for a moment, and then made his way out of the bedroom. “Rest, Master,” he urged gently. He could feel the Master’s pleading eyes following him and heard one last, pathetic, “I’m Harry Saxon,” before he left the room and locked the door behind him.


	10. Field Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Ianto take a trip to the TARDIS' aquarium, and Jack and the Master have some quality time together.

Ianto sat on the bed uneasily. “Jack…” he called, hoping that the Captain would hear him through the ajar bathroom door. “What is it?” he heard the other man reply. He sounded pissed.

“D’you…” Ianto reconsidered asking, but went ahead anyways, “...d’you think that the Master’s really all bad?”

There was cold silence for a few moments, and Ianto wasn’t sure if the Captain was ever going to speak to him again. He felt his heart resume beating when Jack finally answered him. “I don’t know, Ianto.”

“I mean… the Doctor and him were friends, yeah? When they were kids? Best friends. So, he can’t be all bad, otherwise the Doctor wouldn’t be friends with him.”

“I dunno. That was a long time ago.”

“We could ask. Maybe then, you wouldn’t hate him as much.”

“And why would I not want to hate him?” Jack demanded with hostility. Ianto heard the shower turning off and the door opening. He mulled over what response he wanted to give for a few moments while his lover dried his hair. “It doesn’t seem to be helping him,” he decided to say. He heard Jack laugh sharply.

“Why the hell would I want to help him?”

“So that he can be better. You want him to be better, don’t you?” Ianto demanded. Jack shuffled out of the bathroom with only a fluffy, light blue towel wrapped around his waist. His skin was still shimmering with water from his shower and his hair was a darker shade of brown due to how damp it still was. The way that the drops of water glistened on Jack’s skin made Ianto eye him like he was a nice, hot cup of coffee on a cold day, but he focused on the now. Jack sighed heavily and put his hands on his hips. “Well… I guess,” he admitted.

“You’ve got to try, Jack. We’ve got to help the Doctor help him in any way we can. Maybe you and he should spend some time together. I’ll come along, at first.”

“I don’t want to talk about the Master right now, Yan,” Jack sighed. Ianto grinned and stretched his arms out for his Captain. Jack smirked cheekily and stepped forward, leaned down so that he could kiss his teaboy. They kissed each other for a long time before they heard footsteps outside of their door. Jack snapped up and his eyes darted between Ianto and the door, which opened quietly. The Doctor poked his head into the room and found Ianto and Jack inside. “Hello! Erm… I’ve just come to tell you that the Master’s a bit… incapacitated. He’s not quite himself. It’s… it’s the medication. He’s been off it for longer than he should’ve been, and it sort of… meddles his brain for a bit while he gets used to it again. Same thing happened the first time he came onto the TARDIS,” he explained. Ianto glanced at Jack and smiled politely up at the Doctor. 

“Actually, Jack and I were just talking about the Master.”

“Oh? What about him?”

“Jack was thinking of spending some time with him.”

Instantly, the Doctor was cautious. “N-no, I’m not sure if that’s the best-”

“He’s decided to give the Master a chance, don’t worry. And, if the Master’s not exactly who he’s been, it might make it easier for Jack! I was thinking that you and I could also spend some time together, Doctor. We haven’t really gotten to know each other this entire time I’ve been here.”

“We went to a film together the other day…”

“I know that, but that was a film. Although, I did find your version of the historical happenings extremely interesting.”

The Doctor beamed at him. “Well, I suppose! Alright, then, how can I refuse? Jack, you could find the Master’s room relatively easily, with the TARDIS guiding you there. Just… be careful,” the Doctor reminded him. Jack smiled tautly and nodded, and then waved goodbye to the Doctor and his lover. The immortal turned on his heel and left the room, leaving Ianto with the Doctor. “So…” the Doctor began, shoving his fists into his pockets and rocking on the balls of his feet, “where to next?”

“What do you recommend?” Ianto wondered amicably. The Doctor pursed his lips for a moment, turned his eyes to the ceiling while he thought. “Well… we could go to the interplanetary zoo, the aquarium, or the theme park. The swimming pool is under renovation, so we aren’t able to visit there at the moment. Erm… one of my favorite places is the observatory, but perhaps you’d like the fully interactive, 12D planetarium.”

“Twelve-D?” the teaboy demanded incredulously. The Doctor nodded severely. 

“Very interesting, 12D. It’s like the real experience, but with… extra stuff.”

“What extra?”

“Well, like some more colors. Some sensors enter the brain and modify the cones of the eyes so that human beings can see more colors than you think exist, and… well, you can see more colors. There’s also the smells, sights, sounds, textures, everything. It’s a genuine experience,” the Doctor explained. Ianto raised his eyebrows, thinking that a 12D experience of a different planet may be a bit much for him at the moment. He took a deep breath through his nose and shrugged. “Is there something a little less… extreme?” he wondered. The Doctor nodded vigorously. “Of course there is!” he shouted giddily. “I’ve got the 4D experience - which is a little bit more interactive than 3D - or we could go somewhere else.”

“You said something about an aquarium?”

“Yes! It’s brilliant, I should show you! Come on, then! Allons-y!” the Doctor cried, bounding out of the room and down the corridor. Ianto grinned and sprinted after him, not bothering to ask him to wait up. He followed the Doctor down one corridor, another, turned left, turned right, turned left again, around the bins three times and down the staircase. “Doctor?” Ianto called, a bit out of breath. The Doctor turned to give him a glance as he continued flying down the stairs. “What is it?” he called.

“I thought the TARDIS is telepathic! Doesn’t she bring us to where we want to go?”

“Oh, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It really depends. She’s a tricky thing, the TARDIS, but we love her. I do, at least.”

“I think she’s wonderful!”

“Of course she is!” the Doctor agreed proudly. He stopped abruptly, making Ianto nearly crash into him, in front of a large, metal door with a small, round window at eye level. Beyond the window was dark, but Ianto could catch glimpses of shimmering blue light. “I have the largest known aquarium in the Universe!” the Doctor boasted proudly. “Of course, it helps that the TARDIS can make it as big as it needs to be. The entire aquarium could take days to get through it completely, isn’t that brilliant? I have the most unique species that is known to the Universe - some are unknown, mind you. And I can’t possibly have every sort of fish in the Universe, all the fish on Earth alone are innumerable! That’s quite a lot of work for the TARDIS and I,” the Doctor rambled. Ianto smiled up at him and peered through the window again. 

“Shall we go inside?” the Doctor inquired. The human nodded and stepped aside to let the Doctor push the metal door open and gesture for him to enter. When Ianto did, the lights on the walkway lit up and illuminated a gigantic, round corridor. The two of them were surrounded by water that looked cold and dark. As Ianto gazed up into the depths, a creature slithered over the top of the dome and disappeared into the darkness. The Doctor shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers and looked up, his mouth hanging open with awe. “I love the aquarium. I’ve been trying to get the Master to come down here with me, sometime. I think he would quite enjoy. There’s a diner on one of the lower levels, and I’ll have to show you something really brilliant that the TARDIS took it upon herself to install.”

“What’s your favorite exhibit?”

“Well, they’re not ‘exhibits’. They’re real, live animals in their habitats. The TARDIS has designed this whole thing so that they have all the room they need and everything they could want. We’re more exhibits than they are, you know?” the Doctor responded. Ianto smiled happily. 

“I like that,” he told the Doctor. The Time Lord lead the way down the walkway and they came to a steel panel in the curved wall that lead to a smaller room inside. “There’s a lot of walking to do, so the TARDIS put these in so that we can sit and look around,” the Doctor informed Ianto. Two chair-like contraptions escorted themselves out of the small room, hovering just a few inches over the walkway. The Doctor climbed into one and reclined the seat so that he was lying almost completely horizontal to the ground, and he watched a few creatures swim by as Ianto climbed into his chair and got accustomed to the gears and controls. When he had lain back, the chairs began moving again and they slowly floated down the walkway so that the Doctor and the teaboy could see the animals swimming past.

“Which one is your favorite?” Ianto whispered. The Doctor glanced over at him and then returned to staring up into the water. “I dunno… perhaps the Axon Asterchrome fish. Their eyes have starlight in them, literally. They’re ancient, ancient creatures that contain more colors than the human eye can see. That’s what their name means: Star Color.”

“Do you have any of those here?”

“Oh, of course! I’ve got an entire habitat with a few of them! They’re nearly extinct, so I’ve taken it upon myself to preserve them and help them reproduce so that I can drop some newborns off on their home planet. I think I might be the sole thing keeping their species alive. See, the Axons hunt the Asterchromes for the unique chemicals and minerals that can only be found in their bodies, so, naturally, they aren’t helping them much. The Axons could care less if they went extinct.”

“They don’t sound very pleasant.”

“Oh, they aren’t. The Master was affiliated with them once, actually.”

Ianto hummed absentmindedly and pointed up at a creature slithering past. “What’s that one?” he wondered. The Doctor turned his eyes to the thing and thought for a moment. “It’s called a Silurian Eel,” he explained. Ianto nodded and watched its lithe body glide easily through the water. It turned in circles for a while before slipping down the side of the domed corridor and glaring at the passing men with two large, luminescent eyes that were unnervingly large for its head and body. 

 

Jack knocked softly on the door to the Master’s bedroom, hesitating for a fraction and debating with himself whether he really needed to do this or not. When he heard nothing but a slight banging on the other side, Jack frowned and pushed the door open, peering inside to see the Master opening and slamming a drawer shut repeatedly and mumbling to himself. When Jack poked his head into the room, the Master turned around - he actually looked startled. His eyes flew wide open and his mouth looked like he was about to say something, but he froze for several long moments and then pressed his lips together. “Aren’t you gonna say anything?” Jack demanded, hoping that the Master would say something rude and give Jack reason to leave. The Time Lord just looked eager for Jack to stay, which made the human slightly uncomfortable. This wasn’t like the Master at all. He watched the madman fumbling to close the drawer and scan his eyes over the irritatingly clean bedroom he kept, looking for anything that would be considered “messy”. Jack opened the door a bit wider and stepped inside. “Well?” 

The Master glanced up at him and then looked down at his shoes. It looked like he didn’t have anything to say at the moment, so Jack helped him. “What were you doing?” He gestured to the drawer, and the Master’s eyes followed the direction of the nod of his head. He winced and scratched the back of his head, and then fiddled with his tie. “I just… it’s so quiet in here,” he explained with mediocrity. Jack frowned and crossed his arms. “You could turn on the radio, or something.”

“Not in here, in… in here,” the Master corrected him, violently jamming his finger against his temple. The Captain worried a bit that he was hurting himself, but the Time Lord forced himself to stop before he could cause any damage above some bruising. 

“Oh. Still, it might help to turn on some music, or the TV, or something,” Jack suggested. The Master sighed and ran his hands through his hair several times. “Yeah…” he murmured, “might help, might help, might not.”

“Ianto told me that I should try to get to know you better.”

“Get to know… get to know… why is it so quiet? How do you stand it?”

“He thinks you’re ‘not all bad’. What do you think?” Jack wondered, ignoring the Master’s nonsensical rambling. The Master frowned deeply and squeezed his eyes shut, and Jack rolled his own eyes. He stomped to the speakers near him and snatched up the Master’s handheld music device - Jack was pretty sure that it was an iPod, from Earth - to turn on his playlist. After turning down the music a little bit so that it was no more than white noise, he could see the Master visibly relaxing. He let out a little breath that he’d been holding in and looked up at Jack. 

“Who are you?”

“The Doctor said your mind might be a little jumbled after getting back on the medication,” Jack explained for him. The Master frowned at him again. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jack. You know me.”

“I knew a Jack once. He was a lot prettier than you.”

“Thanks,” Jack snapped. This was irritating. “Alright, I’m leaving now.”

“No, please stay!” he heard the Master beg as he turned on his heel. Jack froze and knit his eyebrows together. He stood there for a moment, stunned stupid. “What?” he cried, turning back around abruptly. The Master stumbled back, fear flashing in his eyes for a split second before he caught his balance. “S-sorry, I just wanted-”

“You want me to stay?” Jack demanded, not letting him finish. The Master looked down at his shoes, like he was ashamed of himself. “It gets quiet in here,” he mumbled in reply. Jack scoffed to himself. “Man, the Doctor wasn’t kidding when he said you’d be a little fucked up.” He sat on the bed and leaned back, making himself comfortable. The Master didn’t look at him.

“Well? Aren’t you gonna turn on the TV, or something?”

“Em… yeah. If that’s what you’d like.”

Jack grinned widely and hoped that the Master would stay like this forever. Which brought him to his next question. “What happened to you?” he wondered softly. The Master’s hand stopped in midair where he had begun reaching for the remote. 

“Sorry?”

“What happened to you? You were the Doctor’s best friend, once. What turned you into… you?”

“Erm… well, the Doctor wasn’t always like he is now. The Time War changed him - humans changed him,” the Master stuttered. Jack took a breath, ready to ask another question about their history, but decided that it might be best he didn’t know. Instead, he settled for something that he’d always wondered about, and ignored his turning stomach. 

“Is he any good?”

“Sorry?”

“In… in bed. Is the Doctor any good?”

“Well… he doesn’t do much work, but he makes nice little noises,” the Master replied, not meeting Jack’s eyes. The Captain nodded and squirmed in his seat. The Time Lord stood awkwardly by the bed, occasionally muttering to himself and wincing, looking startled. 

“When was your first time?” Jack asked, knowing that he would regret bringing up this subject. “Here on the TARDIS?”

The Master laughed at him. “Of course not. Back on Gallifrey, when we were kids. We’d promised each other that we would tell each other details when we lost our first virginity, but we ended up losing our first virginities to each other,” he explained with a small, faraway smile. 

Jack nodded. “First virginities?”

“When we get new bodies, we get new virginities.”

“Oh. So… the first virginity is really special, then?”

“Yeah. To humans, it’s like the… well, the only virginity. And then he ran off with his granddaughter and found some new toys to play with. I don’t doubt that the disgusting sod has fucked a few of his playthings along the way, when it should’ve been me,” the Time Lord growled animalistically. Jack flinched.

“You turned evil and killed millions of people because the Doctor didn’t like you anymore?” he demanded harshly. The Master glared at him, and he feared that the Master he’d known was returning. The Time Lord sniffed and looked down at his suit. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?” he demanded pridefully. Jack frowned.

“What worked?”

“Getting his attention. Getting him to ‘like me’ again.”

“He… genocide didn’t get him to like you. He misses his friend.”

“Exactly. So, it worked.”

“Don’t tell me this has been your plan all along.”

“Not exactly a plan,” the Master explained, “rather a clever idea that popped into my head quite recently. I am a genius.”

Jack was positive that the Master was back to normal and itched to leave, but then the madman cried out in fear and slammed his fist down on the bedside table. Jack jumped and eyed him warily, like a frightened animal. “What’s wrong?”

“Wrong, wrong, what’s right? What’s right is wrong, and what’s wrong is right. I don’t know what’s right and wrong anymore.”

“Master, calm down-”

“Where are they? They’re too calm… too quiet… where’ve they gone? I don’t like it, don’t like it, don’t like it…” the Master rambled, raising his hands to his temples and digging his fingernails into his flesh. Jack jumped up and gently tugged on the Master’s arms, but he didn’t budge and just continued muttering nonsense. Finally, Jack had to forcefully pry the Master’s hands off of his head and pin them to his sides, but the Master didn’t fight him once the pressure on his temples was removed. When Jack leaned in to examine, there were tiny beads of blood here and there, but no major damage. He glared sternly at the Time Lord. “You can’t hurt yourself like that. The Doctor wouldn’t like it.” The Master didn’t meet his eyes and stared down at Jack’s shoes, instead.   
“The Doctor doesn’t care…” he whispered bitterly.

“What? Of course he cares! If he didn’t care, do you think he would put up with you like this? Keep you in his TARDIS and care for you, even after everything you’ve done? Hell, I don’t know half of what you’ve done, and if I had the choice I’d drop you off on a dying star and leave.”

The Master frowned with confusion and blinked up at Jack. “You’re rubbish at making other people feel better.”

“You don’t really think I want to make you feel better, do you?” the human scoffed. “I want you to feel what you made me feel, but the Doctor and Ianto want me to make an effort. I want them to feel better, so I’m making an effort.”  
“Yeah,” the Master breathed. Were those tears in his eyes? Jack was able to feel bad for only a moment before he watched the Time Lord blink the tears away. “Why are you still here? It doesn’t matter what they think, there’re a million places you’d rather be right now,” the Master observed. Jack nodded. He wasn’t wrong. 

“Yeah, well… they want me to try. It does matter what they think.”

“Well, then. I don’t have anything to talk about.”

Jack thought for a few moment, but curiosity won out in the end. “What was it like?” he wondered. The Master frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Doing… that with the Doctor.”

“It was great,” the Master began. He winced, jerked his head to the side, and then hissed, “Don’t. Stop saying that,” to no one that Jack could see. The Captain waited for him to compose himself and reply.

“He tastes - shut up! - he tastes like caramel and honey. And he looks so… looks so pretty when he’s covered in sweat, begging me…”

The Time Lord cut himself off and glanced up at the human, but Jack wanted him to continue. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but he wanted to know all about the Doctor. What he tasted like, how he looked, what he liked, what he didn’t like. How easy it was to break him. Not because he wanted to, Jack reminded himself, but because it was conversation, and the only thing he had to talk about with the Master. He cleared his throat and gestured to the television. They didn’t have to talk if that’s all there was to talk about. The Master glared at him for a few seconds before flipping on the television and flicking through channels.


	11. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack finally gets in touch with his team, and the Master begins hallucinating his wife as the Doctor and Ianto meet Jerry and the Monstroctopus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this has taken so long, there's just been a lot going on. I like this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Leave comments and tell me what you think! I'm always open to suggestions of how you think the story should progress, especially since I'm going through a little writer's block at the moment... eurgh.

After the initial tour of the first segment of the aquarium, the Doctor and Ianto dismounted their vehicles and strolled through another corridor, that resembled a shark tunnel like the first. This corridor was surrounded by all sorts of mollusks, clinging to the class, the sand, the rocks. They came in all colors and sizes, from a black shell about as big as the teaboy’s fingernail to a gigantic, incandescent, bowl-like shell as big as the Torchwood SUV. The Doctor pointed to the shell, the corner of his mouth lifting in a small, awestruck smile. “The chameleon sloth. Native to the planet Barcelona.”

“That’s a sloth?”

“Well… the name ‘sloth’ varies from planet to planet, culture to culture. This particular sloth has three tentacles that inflate to reach out into the sea and capture prey. It emits a low-level psychic field, seducing other creatures - it’s not picky - into its grasp, and then it crushes them!” the Doctor shouted suddenly, making Ianto jump as he did rather graphic hand movements to demonstrate. Ianto wondered how long it had been since the mood was this amicable in the entire TARDIS.

“So… it’s a psychic sloth?”

“Basically, yep!” the Doctor cried happily. They stood there and watched the sloth for quite a while, waiting for it to eat. Finally, a mollusk waddled in front of it on the seafloor and, quicker than lightning, the chameleon sloth shot out a tentacle and snatched up the smaller mollusk. In less than a second, the tentacle inflated and Ianto thought he could hear the bones and shell being crushed. Then, the creature brought the deceased to the top of its shell, which was gaping open, and dropped the limp creature inside. Some bits of shell and bone floated off into the water, and Ianto caught a glimpse of a hint of the red tint of blood staining the water.

“Isn’t that brilliant?” the Doctor murmured, eyes fixed to the sloth. Ianto nodded, but didn't find it as amazing as the Doctor. “Yeah,” the teaboy agreed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to the Time Lord. “What’s next?” 

The Doctor grinned widely and turned on his heel and sprinted through the tunnel, barely giving Ianto time to catch up and look around at the scenery. “Down here!” he called, jogging down a flight of stairs and leaping over the last few steps. “This is one of my favorite parts! In here!”  
He lead Ianto through a door that contained shelves weighted down with metal plates that were smooth and round on the bottom, and completely flat on the top. From the center of the large circle - about a meter across and a meter wide - rose a control panel covered in different colored buttons. “What’s this?” Ianto wondered as the Doctor stepped on top of one of the plates and pressed a few buttons. “Hop on!” Ianto did as he was told and climbed onto the plate. As soon as he was completely on top of it, the Doctor punched a big, yellow button and they were encased in a bubble, with the plate they were standing on serving as the bottom. The Doctor grinned down at Ianto and pushed a few more buttons. “It’s called the exo-bubble! It surrounds us and keeps us in and the water and animals out. Unbreakable. The bubble stretches however far you require it to, so you can reach out and touch the animals and feel them. The bubble grafts itself to your hand so that it's just a thin layer of membrane on the outside of your hand, and it transfers the feeling of the animal you touch to your nerve center.” Ianto nodded and reached out to touch the bubble feeling the cold, slimy surface. When he pulled his hand away, it was completely dry - so the bubble wasn’t as slimy as it had seemed. He frowned and turned to the Doctor. “What is this for? Why do we need it?” The Doctor beamed down at him. 

“We’re going to see the animals live! Isn’t that exciting? We’re going to observe them in their natural habitat! And, the bubble contains a built-in perception filter, so the creatures can just go about their own business. They’ll hardly even notice us!”

Ianto raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled softly. “Which ones are we seeing?” he wondered. The Doctor pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the door of the airlock slid open, allowing water to flow smoothly out of the widening crack underneath the door. Ianto instinctively flinched once the water level surpassed the metal plate underneath them, but not a drop of water penetrated the gentle, but unbreakable, bubble. “Oh, all of them!” the Doctor finally replied. “Of course, I used to take my companions to dinner before doing this. I learned my lesson too late, I think,” he chuckled amicably. Ianto frowned. 

“Why not anymore?”

“They would throw up in the bubble. It automatically cleans everything in under thirty seconds, but it’s not pleasant for anyone. For one thing, it could be the motion sickness - this thing packs a bit of a punch - or, it could be Jerry and the Monstroctopus.”

“The… the Monstroctopus?”

“Yep!” the Doctor cried as he steered the bubble out of the airlock and into the open waters. His tongue stuck out of his mouth as he concentrated on not hitting any of the walls. From what Ianto could see of the chipped wall right about where the metal plate floated in the water, it wouldn’t be the first time. The bubble jerked forward unexpectedly and he had to lurch to hold onto the console, but the Doctor just smiled down at him apologetically. “Sorry!” he called, smacking a few more buttons on the console and keeping a watchful eye out on the water. “I’ve had this thing for years now, and I still can’t seem to get the hang of it!”

Ianto didn’t let go of the console and glanced up at him before returning his eyes to the water. “I’ll get used to it in no time!” the Doctor shouted with complete confidence in himself. Ianto didn’t doubt him. As the bubble’s journey got a bit steadier, Ianto was able to relinquish his hold of the console and lean in to peer out of the translucent bubble’s protective membrane. 

“Doctor?”

“Yes, Ianto?”

“What’s the Monstroctopus?”

“Oh… you’ll see!”

“And… Jerry?”

“Named him after a giant squid in a book I read!”

“Which book would that be?”

“‘Sphere’ by Michael Crichton.”

“I’d just started that book when you came to the Plass, actually.”

“Really? Fantastic book! I won’t spoil it for you,” the Doctor assured him. He pressed a large blue button and stepped away from the console. When he saw Ianto’s questioning look, he informed him, “Put her on autopilot. I don’t have to work the controls while I’m trying to see some brilliant animals. I’ll tell you all about them!”

As he spoke, a large, illuminated fish floated past, propelled by fins that worked like butterfly wings, but were silkier and gave the fish the appearance of an angel. “What’s that one?” he asked, pointing the glowing fish out for the Time Lord. The Doctor squinted at it for a moment before grinning. “Ah! The fish of Gabriel!”

“That’s its name? The fish of Gabriel?”

“Yep! It’s very beautiful, isn’t it? There are legends on Malcassairo that the fish of Gabriel escorts the spirits of dead fish to the other side.”

“Like… a Grim Reaper fish?”

“Sort of. And then there’s the fish of Lucifer. It’s a recluse, but an expert hunter. If it touches another fish, the fish dies. Most of the time, the fish of Gabriel and the fish of Lucifer are seen together. They make quite a team!” the Doctor explained with a smile. The fish approached the bubble, not even noticing that it was there, and the Doctor stepped up to the thin membrane, reaching his hand through and gingerly touching the thing. It jerked away at first, but then came back so that the Doctor could stroke its smooth back. The Doctor’s eyes were wide as he turned to look over his shoulder at Ianto and frantically gestured for the human to come over to that side of the small bubble, and the teaboy obliged. The Doctor kept one hand stroking the fish, and the other he used to grab Ianto’s wrist and guide it into the membrane. The fiber stretched over Ianto’s hand and perfectly molded to it, and he tentatively touched one of the fish’s wings. The fish of Gabriel lurched away from his touch and darted into the water, and Ianto blushed deeply as the Doctor just watched it fly away. He looked over at Ianto with an amicable expression. “Don’t worry. It happens to everyone. You’ll get the hang of touching them how they like soon enough. You just need to be gentle.”

Ianto nodded, frowned, and hesitated asking what he wanted to say. “Like…” he faltered for a moment before gaining confidence in himself. “Like with the Master?”

“Yes…” the Doctor said carefully. “Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

“We don’t need to talk about the Master.”

“He’s a bit of a handful, isn’t he?”

The Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a sigh through his lips. Ianto looked at him imploringly and the Doctor scratched the back of his neck for a moment.

“He’s a big handful,” the Time Lord admitted.

“And you need to be gentle with him?”

“Sometimes.”

“When else?”

“Well… sometimes I’ve got to hold him down. To give him his medication, you see. And there are… other things.”

“When you have sex?” Ianto wondered blatantly. The Doctor flushed a deep shade of pink and his voice cracked a bit as he spoke. “I sup… suppose so.”

He cleared his throat and gestured to a deep, dark cavern where the sea floor sloped off into blackness. “Jerry and the Monstroctopus are down there,” he informed Ianto, forcing himself to be amicable. The teaboy glanced at a passing fish and then squinted anxiously into the dark. “You never did tell me what the Monstroctopus is.”

“You’ll see.”

 

Jack couldn’t stop sneaking glances at the Master while they watched their program. He wondered what was going through the madman’s head as they watched a documentary on the Cat’s Eye Nebula. Probably the drums, he reckoned, despite the Doctor’s medication. But what was he thinking about? The Doctor? Jack? Jack felt his blood boil with rage as he realized that the Master could very well be thinking about his Ianto. If the psychopath was ever to do anything to Ianto, or threaten him in any way, Jack would have no choice but to offer himself up to the madman’s whims. He wasn’t sure if he could go through another “adventure” like the one he had on the Valiant. 

“What do you feel for the Doctor?” Jack blurted, hardly aware of it himself. He noticed that the Master’s eyes widened a bit in surprise and he looked over at the human. “What?” Jack looked at him with a completely straight face, keeping it cold and void of emotion.

“What do you feel for him?”

“Why the hell do you want to know?”

He sounded sane, even though he’d been muttering things frantically under his breath for the past hour. Jack frowned at him - but frowning at the Master wasn’t exactly a new development. He thought for a moment before he decided to answer. “Because… because if you feel something for the Doctor, I might not be so hard on you.” Those words practically hurt coming out of his mouth. 

“Why do I care?”

Jack struggled coming up with an answer. When he finally did, he hated himself for it. 

“Because if I approve of your relationship with him, I won’t protest if you fuck him. God, I can’t believe I’m saying this.”

“Neither can I, actually.”

“So? What do you feel for the Doctor?”

“I suppose sentimentality or nostalgia. We were best friends when we were children, you know.”

“There’s nothing else?”

“What do you want to hear?”

Jack hesitated. “I want to hear that you love him, and you do all of this out of some sick, twisted idea of what love is,” he finally admitted. The Master looked at him with a smirk and gleaming eyes, his tongue flicking out to wet his lips. “Johann thinks you’re being silly,” he blurted. Jack frowned, knitting his eyebrows close together. “What?” he cried.

“Johann thinks you’re being silly. He said you need to take a chill pill.”

Jack sighed heavily. He was having an actual conversation with the madman, and then his insanity had to spike up at the exact wrong moment. He dragged his hands across his face and leaned back on the bed, looking at the Master quizzically. “When will this… side-effect wear off?” he demanded, not expecting a coherent answer. The Master tapped out the drum beats on the side of his skull, using more force than was necessary. “Johann says that my head’s too empty. He says it’s gonna fill up with soup, and then where will we be? I can’t have a soup head! How am I gonna marry Lucy if I’ve got a soup head?”

“Lucy’s not here, Master.”

“That’s not my name! I’m Harry Saxon! I’m Harry Saxon! I’m Harry Saxon!” the Master squealed, face growing red and eyes getting wide and panicked. Jack slid off of the bed and hurriedly crossed the floor to comfort him, putting two certain hands on the Master’s shoulders and looking him straight in the eyes. “Alright, fine. You’re Harry Saxon. You need to calm down, Harry,” he insisted forcefully. The Master quivered under his touch and shrunk away, nodding feebly. “Yes, yes, yes. Listen to the Captain.” Jack frowned and tentatively reached out to run comforting fingers through the Master’s - surprisingly soft - hair. 

“You alright?” he asked softly. 

“Fine, fine, fine, fine. But where’ve they gone? My head’s so empty…”

“I know. The Doctor’s fixed you, so you’re head’s more empty than usual. But you can fill it up pretty quickly, you know.”

The Master looked up at Jack with wide, quizzical eyes. “How?” he murmured.

“You just read some more. You’re smart, so I bet you can read a lot.”

“I can!”

“See? And you can help the Doctor around the TARDIS. God knows she could use some repairs,” Jack muttered under his breath. He heard the TARDIS groaning disapprovingly and winced. “Sorry, old girl,” he whispered apologetically. There was a long creak, and then the time machine went silent again. 

“What about Lucy? Can she help?”

Jack paused, trying to think of a suitable answer that wouldn’t upset him - it was already proven that the Master was easily upset in this state of mind. “Sure, Mast-I mean, Harry. Lucy can help,” he finally replied. The Master’s smile was infectious and pure, Jack wanted to smile right back at him. The madman tore his eyes from the Captain and looked at something that the human couldn't see. “Did you hear that, Lucy? Jack said you can help with the TARDIS.” 

Jack frowned sadly at him, but removed his hands from the Master’s shoulders and backed away, making for the door. “Okay, Harry. Bye,” he muttered over his shoulder, and then he closed the door behind him. Once the door was properly closed, he leaned against it and sighed heavily, squeezing his eyes shut. He hated the Master, yes, but he hated him considerably more when he wasn’t pitying him. When Jack began walking away, he realized that he hadn’t communicated with his team in months, and neither had Ianto. They might be worried sick! That, or fallen into anarchy. The thought amused Jack, and he absentmindedly wondered if Owen and Toshiko had confessed their feelings for each other yet. He found the communications room and pushed open the door, which looked like it hadn’t moved in a while. Everything inside was dark and covered in a thin film of dust, which Jack brushed off of the chair, the screen, and the keyboard, and then had to find a way to turn the monitor on. He combed around the monitor for a few moments, and then the human-friendly keyboard for an on switch, but then sat back dejectedly when he couldn’t find anything. Seemingly without provocation, the screen flickered to life, and Jack looked around for an intruder before realizing that the TARDIS must’ve done it for him. He grinned winningly and hurriedly typed in the desired coordinates, and then selected the location that he wanted to chat with. For a few moments, the screen was idle while Jack anxiously waited for them to pick up, and he grinned excitedly when they finally did. “Owen! Gwen! Tosh!” he called energetically at his rather confused team. “Jack?” Owen questioned.

“It’s me! I’m on the TARDIS!”

“Jesus Christ, Jack!” Gwen butted in loudly. Jack winced; he could tell the girl was enraged. “You missed my wedding!”

The Captain’s eyes flew open and he could feel his heart stop for a moment. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m bloody well not! I was gonna postpone it until you and Ianto got back, but then we didn’t know if you were coming back! There was an alien, inside of me! I was pregnant, with an alien baby! A shapeshifter!”

“Christ, Gwen, I’m sorry!”

“Speaking of Ianto,” Tosh chimed in, “where is he?”

“He’s with the Doctor. I dunno where they are.”

“Well, how far could they go?” Gwen demanded. “We looked at the CCTV when you two were running out like your arses were on fire, and that box can’t be bigger than seven feet tall!”

“The TARDIS is bigger on the inside. I don’t think it really ends.”

Gwen’s mouth hung open, but Owen just pushed her to the side and addressed Jack aggressively. “When are you coming back? We need you and Ianto, Jack!”

“I know, I know. I can’t leave yet. I’ve tried to get Ianto to come back here, but he refuses. He’s in here as long as I am, trust me.”

“Then come back!” Tosh cried.

“I can’t!” Jack snapped harshly. His team stared at him coldly, and Jack felt panic rising in his gut. He didn’t want them to be angry with him, and he didn’t want to just desert them like this, but… he couldn’t leave the Doctor to that psychopath’s whims. Especially not after what had happened recently. He figured that he should at least try to explain that to his team.

“See… I haven’t told any of you anything about the Master. I was with him, the Doctor, and a friend of mine - Martha Jones, her name is - for a year, while the Master was ruling the Earth.”

“What?” Gwen demanded. Jack sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to think of how to explain it to them so that they would understand, but he wouldn’t have to tell them everything. “D’you remember Harold Saxon? The candidate for Prime Minister a while back?”

“Yeah! I voted for him!”

“So did I!” chimed in Owen.

“And me,” Tosh added. 

Jack frowned. Of course, he still loved them. They had no idea who Harold Saxon really was. “What about him?” Owen demanded. Jack frowned and tried to vocalize his thoughts.

“Well… he wasn’t human. He’s a Time Lord, like the Doctor. They’re the last ones in existence. The Master won the public’s votes using low levels of hypnosis, transmitted through four beats, like the ones in his head. He killed the Cabinet and created an airship called the Valiant, which he killed the President on. You remember that, don’t you?”

Gwen, Tosh, and Owen thought for a few moments before they were able to recall the incident. “Oh, oh!” Owen cried. “I remember that! Harold Saxon, the Prime Minister who went mad and killed the President! What happened to him? Is he there, with you?”

“Yeah, he’s here. More than just that happened, though. He let in an army of spheres called the Toclafane through a crack in the fabric of time, allowing them to come through from the end of the Universe to now, using the Doctor’s TARDIS as a paradox machine. They slaughtered billions at the Master’s every whim. He was in control for an entire year before the Doctor and Martha could save the world and I could destroy the paradox machine. Time snapped, and reverted to two minutes past eight - just after the President was killed, but just before the Toclafane arrived. Technically, the Year never happened, but everyone who was at the ‘eye of the storm’, as the Doctor put it, can remember everything. I can remember everything. So, when the Doctor called for help, I had to come, because he took the Master onto the TARDIS and he’s trying to fix him.”

It took a few minutes for them to process that information, but they took it surprisingly well. “So…” Gwen began, “that’s why you left? Because the Doctor called and had some trouble with… Harold Saxon?”

“Yeah, but his name isn’t really Harold Saxon. He’s called the Master.”

“Who calls himself ‘the Master’, though?” Owen scoffed. Jack glared at him darkly. “He does,” he replied with a severe tone. The Master was not to be taken lightly.

“He’s a psychopath, and the Doctor is weak against him. He has a soft spot for the Master because they were best friends as kids, on Gallifrey - their home planet. It’s tragic.”

“That sounds tragic!” Tosh gasped, holding a hand to her heart. Jack smiled softly, grateful for the unique mix of personalities he had employed. Tosh, gentle and sweet. Owen, feisty and sullen. Gwen, hard-working and compassionate. Ianto Jones, useful and devoted. Jack sighed heavily and held his head in his hands. “I’m sorry for leaving you all there,” he murmured. If Tosh could have reached through the screen and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, Jack was confident that she would have. “Jack, don’t be sorry! We’re fine here, we really are! We took care of the shapeshifter at Gwen’s wedding, and everything else that was thrown our way!” she assured him. Gwen and Owen nodded hastily. 

“And when you have trouble, you can come talk to us. Yeah?” Gwen added.

“We’re your family, Jack. You should be able to trust us,” Owen scolded him. 

“Yeah,” sighed Jack. He scratched his chin and leaned back in his chair to get a long, final look at his team. He wouldn't see them very often, he predicted. “I’ve gotta go.”

“What?” Gwen demanded. “No, you can’t, you just called us!”

“I know,” Jack admitted, “but I’ve got to look after the Master while the Doctor’s gone. You don’t understand… but it’s important. He’s dangerous, and he’s crazier than usual.”

“Well… alright,” Gwen relented. She glanced at Owen and Toshiko, who were both smiling at the Captain. “It’s alright,” Toshiko assured him. “Don’t worry about us. Stay there as long as you need to, but make sure you come back to us, alright?”

Jack nodded and reached forward to end the transmission, and then sat back in his chair and puffed out a long sigh. “Fuck,” he whispered to himself. Some Captain he was.


	12. Creatures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto meets Jerry and the Monstroctopus, and Jack spends some time with the Master.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God. I'm so sorry for how long this took, but stuff has been happening so much, you know? Anyways, it's here now, isn't it? Tell me what you think in the comments!

The Doctor steered the bubble down into the cavern, keeping a watchful eye on Ianto the whole time. “You alright?” he wondered. Ianto didn’t tear his eyes from the cavern, which the Doctor supposed was a good thing. At least he wasn’t vomiting. Despite being able to travel through time and space in a Police Telephone Box, many of his companions had motion sickness. Driving around in Bessie was a misery. 

“Yeah… I’m fine. It’s just… beautiful.”

“What?” the Doctor demanded. That was a new one. He looked down at Ianto quizzically, who didn’t tear his eyes from the cavern to look at the Time Lord. 

“It’s beautiful. So dark, and… just, lovely. What's down there? Who’s Jerry, and what the hell is the Monstroctopus?” Ianto demanded. The Doctor grinned excitedly down at him as the bubble descended deeper into the pit, and the blackness enveloped them. The human frowned, unable to see anything through the darkness. “Are there lights on this thing? I want to see them!” he cried. The Doctor laughed heartily and flicked a switch under the console. The bubble began to glow, emitting a dim, faintly green light from every part of its surface. As the light powered up, it brightened and the color cleared up, so that the two inside the bubble could properly see around them - although not very far. Out of the corner of his eye Ianto could swear that something slunk along the sea floor, but it was gone before he could catch it. The human wondered if it was just a trick of the light. “Did you see that?” he whispered to the Doctor, diligently scanning the seafloor. The Time Lord followed where his eyes were directed, but shook his head. “I can't see anything. What did you think it was?”

“I thought… it looked like a giant snake, or something.”

“It was probably a tentacle.”

“A tentacle?”

“Don't worry, it's just the Monstroctopus.”

Despite the Doctor’s assuring words, Ianto was worried. Anything called “the Monstroctopus” didn't sound pleasant. He flashed a nervous glance at the Doctor and squinted past the light of the bubble, trying to see another tentacle. “And… Jerry?” he inquired. 

“Oh, Jerry will show soon enough. He loves showing off for company.”

“I thought there was a perception filter or something on this thing!”

“There is. Jerry and the Monstroctopus can see us. It might be the effect that the TARDIS has had on them… for some reason, it hasn't had the same effect on any other of the animals, that I know of.” 

“And they're alright with guests?”

“I can communicate telepathically with them, so I've talked to them a lot, and they really understand. They like guests, and they like having company other than themselves. They're the biggest ones in here, you see, so they don't have anyone else to communicate with other than their food. And, that doesn't work very well, given the fact that they can't actually speak to their prey and end up eating them after a few minutes.”

“Are you the only one that can talk to them?”

“Well… there's the Master. But, of course, he doesn't fancy the aquarium unless it's feeding time. He prefers the observatory or the lab. Or the… nevermind.”

“What? The what?”

The Doctor cleared his throat uncomfortably, reaching an arm up and scratching the back of his neck. “The… erm, the sex dungeon.”  
Ianto smiled slyly. “You've got a sex dungeon in here?”

“Yeah, sorry. I was meaning to keep that a secret, you and Jack probably don't want to hear anything about the sex dungeon.”

“Where is it?” Ianto asked amicably. The Doctor spluttered and coughed, and Ianto patted him firmly on the back. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, fine! Sorry, but what?”

“Just asking for… recreational purposes. I'm sure Jack would be as interested as I am.”

“Well… I just didn't think you would be interested in that sort of thing, that's all. I mean, there's some pretty serious… toys in there.”

“You would be amazed at he things Jack has in his office,” Ianto assured him. The Doctor raised his eyebrows and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn't think you and Jack were that… serious,” he admitted. Ianto chuckled quietly to himself, looking down as his feet. “Not really,” he murmured. 

“I mean, if you're playing with serious toys…” 

“Does that mean you and the Master are serious?”

“It-it's not that simple…”

“See? Not that simple,” Ianto snapped, harsher than he meant to. The Doctor nodded and piloted the bubble further into the pit and Ianto looked around expectantly. “Where are they?” the human demanded expectantly. The Doctor chewed on his lip and looked around for the creatures that he'd promised to Ianto. “Dunno… maybe they're sleeping?” he offered. Ianto frowned and peered into the darkness as silt swirled around them and blocked his vision further. Suddenly, the bubble was thrown through the water and stopped abruptly, sending both the human and the Time Lord into the bubble’s filmy surface. They bounced back and were sprawled on the floor, gasping in surprise and looking up at the creature towering high into the black. “Oh!” the Doctor exclaimed happily. “It's just the Monstroctopus!” Ianto glared at him incredulously, and then back up at the thing - which, he had to admit, had a striking resemblance to an octopus. Except, of course, that it was about million times bigger and terrified Ianto shitless. The Doctor scrambled to his feet and pressed his face to the bubble’s filmy exterior surrounding them. “Now, that was no way to treat a guest!” he cried up at the creature. Part of Ianto couldn't believe that he was trying to reason with this thing, but then he realized that it was the Doctor he was with, and octopi were very brilliant creatures. He slowly got to his feet and the Doctor narrowed his eyes at the Monstroctopus. 

“Oi! Don't swear!”

The thing’s floppy head bobbed in the water, and the Doctor raised a finger to it like a scolding teacher. “No, he's our guest! This ‘tradition’ you have of terrifying my companions when you first meet them has got to stop! Now, where's Jerry?”

He seemed to listen to the Monstroctopus for a moment before grinning at it and exclaiming, “Thank you!” 

He turned to Ianto and smiled wide. “He says ‘hello’!”

Ianto gazed up at the creature and offered a nervous wave. “Hello… Monstroctopus,” he mumbled. The Doctor beamed as him and began piloting the bubble through the Monstroctopus’ tentacles, where they discovered a large figure drifting in circles above them. “I named the Monstroctopus that because I didn't like his former name. It was too boring and sciencey. He needed something nice and fun! He's like the big brother of the two, and always causing trouble. Jerry is the little one, but he's quite active. They're like brothers, or best friends. Have been ever since Jerry’s partner died of a spike in temporal radiation. It was completely random and unexpected; there was really nothing I could've done.”

The giant squid - Jerry - swam down to inspect the bubble with a gigantic, gleaming eye on the side of his head. “That must’ve been rough. Do giant squid usually form emotional bonds with other animals?” Ianto wondered. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair and looked up at Jerry. “This one does. So does the Monstroctopus, but his species is very rare, so I couldn’t find him a mate. Doesn’t matter, I suppose. He’s got Jerry to keep him company,” the Doctor mused. Ianto looked up at Jerry, and then turned around to see the Monstroctopus with a curious expression. “You can talk to them, you said? Psychically?”

“Yup!”

“Is it only Time Lords that can do that, or…?”

“Well… I suppose humans can, as well, but I would have to put the information in your head so that you’re able to communicate psychically with other species. And, it itches.”

“Itches?”

“At the back of your head. Just a consistent itching - not when you’re talking verbally, but when you’re talking psychically. There’s a tiny itch at the back of your head that you can’t quite scratch. It could drive one mad,” the Doctor informed him. Ianto nodded and gazed back up at the creatures. 

 

Jack knocked gently on the Master’s door. “Come in!” he heard the Master’s jovial voice calling. The human steeled himself and swung the door open, stepping inside. The Master was sitting on the floor, cross legged and talking to someone that Jack couldn’t see. “Lucy, you remember Captain Jack Harkness, don’t you?” The Master grinned up at Jack innocently. Jack forced a tight smile onto his face and closed the door. “The Doctor and Ianto should be back anytime, now,” he murmured, hoping that they would just hurry up. The Master grinned wider and nodded. “Wonderful! Then we can all have a tea party! Lucy loves tea parties, don’t you my dear?”

The Master was silent for a moment, and then nodded happily. “I know you do!” he exclaimed. Jack frowned and crouched in front of the mad Time Lord. “You know… you know that she’s not here, don’t you?”

“Oh, he’s just being silly, Lucy.”

What was going on in that man’s head? “Master…”

“My name’s not ‘Master’! It’s Harry Saxon! I’m Harry Saxon!”

Jack reached out and put a firm hand on the Master’s shoulder. “No, you’re not. That’s just the name you gave yourself when you pretended to be human, on Earth. Remember? Lucy was your wife.”

“Yes, Lucy is my wife!”

“No, not anymore. She tried to kill you, Master. Don’t you remember?”

The Master made a genuinely betrayed expression and looked just to the side of Jack and whispered, “Lucy, that’s not true! Is it?”

“Jack…” a voice from the door murmured. The Captain whirled around, and the Master seemed to take no notice of the intruder. He just continued talking to his imaginary Lucy Saxon. Jack got to his feet and approached the Doctor, who pulled him out of the Master’s room to quietly talk in the corridor. “You can’t talk him out of it. He sees her. She’s real for him. I can’t convince you into believing that that wall there is green,” the Doctor explained, pointing to the wall of the corridor. The Doctor had a point - the wall was cream colored, and not any shade of green whatsoever. He frowned and turned back to the Time Lord, who was smiling softly at him. “Thanks for trying, though.”

“No problem, Doctor. When did you and Ianto get back?”

“Just now. We had lunch at the restaurant and then made our way back into the console room. I decided to find the Master’s room to see how he’s doing.” The Doctor paused. “Have you been with him this whole time?”

“No. He was by himself for about ten minutes. I went to talk to Gwen, Owen, and Toshiko.”

“Oh! You found the communications room, then?”

“Yeah. Bit dusty, if you don’t mind my saying.”

The Doctor sighed and nodded, running a hand through his bushy hair. “Not at all. I just don’t have much use for it, that’s all. Especially not since the Master’s come aboard.”

“Of course. Do you wanna catch a movie, or…?”

The Doctor blew out a sigh through his lips and shook his head guiltily. “Sorry, Jack…”

“No, it’s alright! I just-”

“I’ve got to keep track of the Master during this stage of getting accustomed to the medicine. At one point he has to spend every second of every day with someone - not my choice, it’s just something the medication makes him do for a period of time - and I’d prefer if it was me. It helps him build trust with me, that’s all.” Jack nodded and leaned one shoulder against the wall, crossing his arms. “Are you… are you going to start having sex with him again, then?” he wondered, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. The Doctor gave him his two big, sad, doe eyes and then averted his eyes down to his trainers. “No. Maybe. Possibly. I dunno, Jack. I’m sorry,” he responded quietly. Jack looked up at him mournfully. He scratched the back of his neck and nodded. “Yeah. That’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“You’re worried.”

“Am not.”

“I can smell it,” the Doctor told him. After a moment of Jack looking at him oddly, the Doctor stumbled over his words to correct himself. “No, no, no, n-it’s not weird! It’s like… like a Time Lord sixth sense, you know? I can sort of sense emotions, and all emotions have a certain smell.”

“Oh,” Jack murmured. It looked like the Doctor was about to speak, but a hand snaked out of the Master’s bedroom and snatched him by the wrist, gently dragging him into the room. The Doctor looked down at Jack with a helpless shrug, and then trotted into the Master’s bedroom amicably, shoving his hands in his pockets. Jack peered around the doorway and watched them for a few moments. The Time Lords were sitting on the floor, and the Master had somehow procured an entire tea set and laid it out elegantly on the floor. He was talking quietly to the Doctor and his imaginary Lucy as he poured them tea. “Thanks for inviting me,” the Doctor was saying as he took the teacup that was set in front of him. He sipped it tentatively, and then grinned brightly at the madman. “This is excellent, Harry! Did you make this?”  
The Master chuckled and gestured to the teacup next to him. “No, Lucy made it.” The Doctor turned to “Lucy” and smiled sweetly. “It’s lovely, Lucy. Thank you!” Jack was astonished at the smile on the Master’s face, not threatening or predatory but genuine and pure. He couldn’t believe that he wasn’t pretending, that he didn’t have some elaborate scheme he’d cooked up. Jack still was doubtful that those weren’t valid fears. He watched the two of them for a few more minutes and then shuffled away from the Master’s room, hands in his pockets and head dejectedly held low. He really couldn't understand how the Doctor could be so friendly with him after what happened. Jack understood the history between the two Time Lords, but he didn’t think that it should excuse rape. Especially since that wasn’t exactly a foreign term to the Master. The human shuffled through the corridors of the TARDIS and arrived at a kitchen, which was perfect. Jack had been a bit hungry for a while now. As he prepared himself a turkey sandwich and munched on a few of the ingredients on the side, he wondered where Ianto was and how his trip with the Doctor went. He made a mental note to seek his teaboy out later and ask him, hopefully followed by some relaxing sex, or even oral. For now, however, Jack polished off his lunch and set the plate in the sink for the TARDIS to clean, and then found his room rather quickly after he left the kitchen. Jack didn’t need to sleep, but sometimes he got tired, and sleep was the best option. Right now, he was rather tired, but instead of piling under a mountain of soft blankets on his bed, he shuffled to the bathroom and opened the shower door, turned on the water, and left it to warm up as he brought his pajamas into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror for a long time. Before he knew it, the bathroom was filled with steam and he realized that he’d lost track of time, so he quickly slipped off his clothes and hopped under the hot jets of water. He sighed when the water hit his back, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead on the wall and sighing deeply. The Master was vulnerable. He could kill him any time. The only problem was the Doctor, who was all dewy-eyed over the psychopath, and who Jack was deeply in love with. Perhaps… perhaps he could stand the thought that the Doctor hated him if he just knew that the Time Lord was safe. On the other hand, Jack saw how much it tore the Doctor up when he thought that the Master was dead for good. He couldn’t stand breaking the Doctor’s hearts like that. Of course, that was before the Doctor lit his hand up with regeneration energy and brought the Master back to life, spluttering and hissing curses. 

“Jack?” Ianto’s voice called from the bedroom.

“Yeah?”

“Is that you?”

“Who else would it be?” Jack wondered with a grin. There was silence for a few moments before he could make out Ianto’s voice through the tapping of the shower water. The teaboy was muttering something under his breath, and it sounded rather like “I thought… nevermind.”

“Want to join me?” Jack called, ignoring what he’d heard and telling himself that it didn’t matter. He heard Ianto’s shoes thudding on the linoleum of the large bathroom, and saw the man’s silhouette in the foggy glass of the shower door. “Why not?” Ianto wondered. Through the glass, Jack absentmindedly watched Ianto carefully removing his clothing, and then scooping up Jack’s clothes off of the floor and folding them, placing them on the counter next to his own. Jack chuckled and shook his head, dipping his head underneath the water. He heard the shower door opening, and the cold air made him shudder for a moment before it was closed again and he felt Ianto kiss his shoulder sweetly. “How was your time with the Doctor?” Jack wondered, scooping up the bottle of shampoo - lilac scented, Ianto’s favorite - and squeezed some into his palm, and then began massaging it into his hair. Ianto’s arms wrapped around his waist and he rested his chin on Jack’s shoulder, staring at nothing. “It was amazing! Did the Doctor ever show you the Monstroctopus and Jerry?”

Jack chuckled, “Yeah. He showed me and Rose when I first came onto the TARDIS. You like them?”

“Yes, I do. They’re beautiful.”

“I can’t wait until you see what’s out there. The Doctor’s gonna take you so many places, Ianto,” Jack sighed, leaning his head against the mortal’s shoulder after he’d rinsed the shampoo from his hair. Ianto stayed still, but Jack could feel his chest swelling hopefully. “He will. I promise. I’ll stay here with the Master, and you two can go and see the stars. You’ll love it out there,” Jack breathed. Ianto nodded.

“You really think he will?”

“Of course he will. The Doctor loves showing off.”

Ianto laughed and Jack stepped around him, pushing him under the stream of water and squeezing some more shampoo into his hand. He instructed Ianto to turn around and gently worked the shampoo into the man’s hair. “How was your time with the Master? Not as awful as you thought?” Ianto wondered, leaning into Jack’s touch.

“That’s because he’s not like he usually is. That’s the only reason it was bearable.”

“Don’t be a drama queen, Jack.”

Jack put on a mock offended expression and gasped dramatically. “Ianto! How could you?” He burst into a fit of laughter and Ianto twisted around to kiss him quickly before Jack gently rinsed his hair out. “What did you do that whole time?” the teaboy asked.

“We watched TV for a while, and then I went… well, when I came back he was sitting on the floor, and then the Doctor came and took over. That was pretty much it.”

“And he didn’t cause any trouble? No diabolical schemes to cook up?”

“No,” Jack admitted reluctantly. “But I still don’t trust him. And you shouldn’t either.”

“I don’t,” Ianto assured his lover. 

“Good.”

“But he can still be better, yeah? The Doctor is making him better, don’t you think?”

“Maybe a little bit…”

“I know that there’s a long way to go still, but they have forever, don’t they? They have forever to stay in here and be together and work on fixing the Master.” Jack nodded carefully and ran his hand through Ianto’s soft, wet hair a few more times before he sighed and rested his head on the teaboy’s shoulder. “I’m just worried. Has he approached you?”

“Well… we’ve spent some time together, I suppose.”

Jack’s heart raced for a moment in a surge of jealousy and rage. “How much time, doing what?” he demanded, straightening and waiting impatiently as Ianto turned to face him slowly. There was something that made Jack’s stomach uneasy… perhaps the fact that the teaboy was refusing to meet his eyes. “Not much time. You know, just some time with the Doctor, him, and myself. Watching a film, stuff like that,” Ianto replied. He reached for the bar of soap, but Jack caught his wrist and held it in place, looking at him dangerously. “Tell me the truth.” The mortal frowned and finally looked into Jack’s eyes. All the Captain could see was hurt. “Don’t you trust me, Jack?”

“I-yes, of course! I just-”

“You just what? Thought I might be lying? If there’s one thing you know about me, it should be that I don’t lie to you, which is more than what I can say about you, Jack,” Ianto bit out, shaking his wrist free of Jack’s hand and shoving open the shower door to storm outside. Jack nearly slipped in his haste to follow his lover, stumbling over his words. 

“Ianto, I didn’t mean it like that!” he cried, reaching out to his mortal. Ianto shrugged him off, gathered his clothing in a messy bundle in his arms, and stomped out of Jack’s bathroom, presumably to go to his own room. The Captain nearly slipped again in his haste to follow, but when he got to the door, he reconsidered. Of course he was wrong. It was wrong of him to assume that Ianto was lying, but he looked so anxious when he’d confronted him about the Master. He fell to his knees on the slick tile and took his head in his hands, digging his fingernails into his forehead. Everything ached. His heart, his mind, his stomach, his knees. It was his fault. He should trust Ianto more! When had the teaboy ever let him down? When had he ever lied to Jack, like all the times Jack had lied to him? It wasn’t fair of him to assume that Ianto was lying to him, or hiding something. On the other hand, Ianto was acting rather shady and Jack had lived long enough to know not to trust anyone. But dammit, he’d let his guard down. He trusted Ianto almost more than anyone he’d ever been able to trust. He’d let his guard down for one second, and this wonderful mortal man had slipped through the crack and eased him out of his worry. Jack ran his hands through his hair and sighed heavily, his eyes red. He swore he could feel his heart physically shattering in his chest, but he forced himself to get to his feet and move to the bedroom, where he crawled under the sheets of his bed, naked and damp and shivering.


	13. Confessional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto finally comes clean with Jack, but not after feeling guilty with himself for making his lover feel the way he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW I suck. It's been a long, long time, but now it's the summer and hopefully I'll be able to post more chapters more often!

As soon as Ianto stormed out of Jack’s bedroom, he sprinted to his own and locked the door behind him. The human collapsed on the floor, pulled his knees against his chest, and stared at nothing, wide-eyed, terrified of himself, burning with shame. He couldn’t believe what he’d just said. He’d blamed Jack for believing something awful of him - something that was true, he added - and made the Captain feel as if it was all his fault. Jack fell so easily into self-loathing… Ianto jumped to his feet and had his hand on the handle of his door, ready to unlock it and fling it open, bound to Jack’s room and apologize, beg him to forgive Ianto, lower himself as low as he possibly could, but he stopped himself. He couldn’t tell Jack what he’d done, he couldn’t. It would rip the Captain apart, and it would rip them apart. Ianto felt a deep, hollow ache in his chest and he scrubbed tears off of his cheeks, but they just kept streaming out of his stinging eyes. He banged his head against the door once and cursed himself. What kind of lover was he? He was disgusting, a traitor, not worthy of anyone like Jack. He couldn’t lose Jack, though. Jack was the last thing Ianto had left. Was he just a curse? When Ianto and Lisa had been together, it ended up with her being converted into a Cyberman, trying to kill his coworkers and future lover, and killing a poor pizza delivery girl to be with Ianto in some sick, mangled idea of love. Jack was already in so much pain, and Ianto was just making it worse. The only way that he could help Jack, Ianto told himself, was to just leave him. He squeezed his eyes shut and choked back sobs, feeling them welling painfully in the back of his throat and threatening to spill out of him. His chest shook, his stomach ached, and his whole body was stiff from being forced to stay in the same exact place and not sprinting to where it wanted to be. 

He stayed there for a long time. Ianto wasn’t exactly sure how long, but he had long since run out of tears and his body had been racked with dry sobs until he was too exhausted to stand. He stumbled to his bed and fell into the cold mattress, shivering uncontrollably. Everything was colder because Jack wasn’t here to keep him warm. He yanked the blankets over himself and let his eyelids droop shut, steadied his quivery breathing, and thought of something pleasant. Soon enough, he’d fallen deeply asleep and was more peaceful than he had been in forever, it felt like. Well, until his dream began.

He was running. At a quick glance behind him, panic surged anew in his gut and he pushed himself to run faster, but then he tripped and was sent sprawling painfully to the ground, scraping his chin on the rough concrete and tearing his pristine suit. “Why did you lie to me, Ianto?” Jack wondered, the hole ripped in his chest bleeding freshly and staining the concrete red. The blood stretched, surged, crawled toward Ianto, who kept scrambling away, not having time to get back on his feet before the red mass would overtake him. “I’m s-sorry, I couldn’t-”

“I trusted you!” Jack cried, his heart still beating in his gaping chest. Ianto fixed his eyes on it, unable to tear them away as his own heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest. Jack’s big, steely, blue eyes were as wide as teacups. Tears dripped up his face, instead of down to his chin, plopping onto the ceiling like rain. And then, Ianto realized. They weren’t dripping onto the ceiling, they were splattering onto the floor. It was like his whole perspective, his whole world had been flipped upside-down and he looked around, frantically searching for a way out. “You betrayed me,” Jack whispered. Ianto lost his grip and fell.

Ianto jerked awake in bed, chest heaving and damp with sweat. He nearly didn’t stop himself from calling Jack’s name, but he caught the words in his throat just in time and swallowed them down. He steadied his breathing and his heartbeat, and then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, yawning. He sighed and sat in bed for a few minutes, just thinking of what he’d done. He’d lied to his lover, yes, but then he’d made Jack feel awful for something that he was right about. All because Ianto didn’t want to tell him about what he had done to the Master. No, what the Master had done to Ianto. He recalled the overpowering scent of cinnamon and mint leaves and thought harder. Jack said something about Time Lords having psychic powers, hadn’t he? One of those nights when he thought Ianto was asleep and just talked. Perhaps that was what had happened. The Master had used his psychic powers on Ianto and hypnotised him into doing those things, and allowing those things. Ianto couldn’t suppress a smile. Jack would understand. 

He flung himself out of bed and sprinted toward the door, wrenching it open and hurrying through the TARDIS, which was silent save for the slapping of his bare feet on the concrete and the gentle whirring and humming of the TARDIS engines. He reached Jack’s room in no time and knocked hurriedly on the door, hoping that Jack would answer as fast as possible. He would just barge in… but he felt like he owed Jack this small respect. Later than he’d wanted, the door slowly opened and Ianto flew through it and wrapped his arms around Jack’s shoulders, holding him tight. “Jack, I lied!” he blurted. Not exactly what he’d wanted to come out of his mouth, but he should just tell the whole truth at this point. “What?” Jack wondered, caught off guard.

“I lied! I’m sorry, Jack, but I panicked and-”

“Ianto, slow down!” Jack cried, prying Ianto away from him and holding him steadily by his shoulders. Ianto took a deep breath and averted his eyes for a moment before finally meeting Jack’s. “I’m sorry, Jack. I made you feel like shit, but trust me, I felt like shit, too!”

“What are you talking about?”

“In the shower, when you asked me what I had done with the Master when we’d spent time with it. And then, when I told you that I wasn’t lying, because I was. It wasn’t my fault! He made me do that!”

Jack’s eyes were dangerous, now. His jaw was clenched and his grip on Ianto’s shoulders tightened just a bit, fingers digging into his skin. “Ianto, what are you talking about? What did he make you do?” he demanded coldly. 

“I… it wasn’t my fault, Jack, you have to believe me! He used some sort of hypnosis on me!”

“What did he make you do. Tell me, Ianto.”

Ianto told him quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. Jack went pale for a moment, and then the color returned ten-fold. His face was flushed red and he let go of Ianto’s shoulders in favor of hugging him - a little bit too tight, as Ianto was having trouble breathing. “Jack?” he choked out. Jack only tightened his grip, and Ianto wondered if this was some strange form of punishment, choking him to death with a hug. “I-I’m sorry, Jack, I d-didn’t-”

“Hush,” Jack commanded him. Ianto shut his mouth and waited for his Captain to speak again. It was a long time before Jack took his face out of Ianto’s neck and kissed him. 

“It’s my fault, Yan. I should’ve been with you the whole time. If I was… he wouldn’t have gotten to you. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Jack-”

“No. You’re leaving the TARDIS, and you’re not arguing with me. You’re leaving, and I’ll stay here with the Doctor and the Master and figure out how to deal with this. He has to pay.”

“Jack, don’t. It’ll only make everything harder with the Doctor.”

The Captain slumped onto the bed, and Ianto sat next to him to comb his fingers through Jack’s soft hair. “It’s alright, Jack. Really. I’m just glad I could finally tell you,” he murmured. Jack blinked up at him, his eyes filled with melancholy. Ianto leaned down and kissed his forehead and then they went silent for a long time.

 

The Doctor sipped his second cup of tea and grinned at the Master. “You know what would go brilliantly with this tea, Harry?”

“What?” the Master wondered innocently, daintily sipping his tea as well and glancing at the cup beside him. “Yes, Lucy? She thinks biscuits would go good with these,” he replied eventually. The Doctor grinned at the empty air next to the Master’s head. “You’re right, Lucy! D’you happen to have any of those around?” he wondered.

The Master shook his head sadly. “I’ve only got tea,” he told the Doctor, hanging his head. The tall Time Lord bounced to his feet and extended a hand to the Master, who waited a second, and then took his hand and stood. 

“Where’re we going?” he wondered.

“Well, we can’t have a tea party without biscuits, can we?”

“No…”

“We’re going to the kitchen!”

“I’ll stay here with Lucy.”

“No, you’ll come with me! Come on, it’ll be an adventure! Lucy will be alright while you’re gone, I promise,” the Doctor assured the Master, his hearts racing in the anticipation of the Master’s answer. If the madman were to resist, he couldn’t force him to come with. “Harry” looked behind him at the cold teacup on the floor and then turned back to the Doctor. “Lucy said it’s alright if I come with you,” he chirped happily. The Doctor beamed down at him, and then at “Lucy”, and pulled the Master out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen. Once they arrived, the Doctor rooted through the cupboards for a moment, searching desperately for the biscuits that he knew he was stocked full of. His ninth regeneration had loved biscuits. He peered into the back of one cupboard and extracted a tin of them. Checking to see that it was full, the Doctor turned to his counterpart and extended the box to him. “Will you carry these for me?”

“Yeah,” the Master murmured, taking the box into his arms and cradling it like it was his own child. The Doctor grinned and put a hand on the small of his back, gently guiding him back to the bedroom. “There you go, you see? Lucy’s alright!”

“Who’s Lucy?”

The Doctor frowned down at the madman and gestured to the still-full, cold tea next to the Master’s cup. “Your wife!” he cried. The Master shook his head.

“I’m not married.”

“Yes, you are. Or, you were. To Lucy Saxon, remember?”

“No. I never married. Didn’t have the time.”

“You had to marry. You were on Earth for eighteen months, and you married a human named Lucy Saxon, don’t you remember that?”

“I never married. And even if I wanted to, who am I going to marry? Everyone’s dead.”

“What?” the Doctor demanded. The Master looked down at his feet and frowned. 

“These aren’t my shoes.”

“What?”

“These aren’t my shoes,” the Master replied firmly. “I have different shoes. Where did I get these shoes?” The Doctor cupped his chin in one hand and delicately lifted his head up to see his face better. “Harry, what are you talking about? Of course those are your shoes!”

“Who’s Harry?” the Master demanded, knitting his eyebrows together in frustration. The Doctor sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was nice, not having the Master who would berate him and abuse him every day, but talking to a complete lunatic was difficult. “You’re Harry Saxon. At least, that’s what you called yourself when you were pretending to be human.”

“Why would I pretend to be human? I am human!”

“What? No, you’re-”

“My name isn’t Harry. My name is Yana. Professor Yana. You know that, Doctor!”

The Doctor rolled his eyes and pushed the Master into his bedroom, exasperated. If he was honest, he may just prefer his normal, mad, abusive Master instead of this confusing conundrum. He bent over to pick up the teacups from the floor so they didn’t get stepped on and be made a mess of, and then placed them on the Master’s bedside table and took the tin of biscuits from him. “Go have a shower, Professor. You’re tired,” he sighed.

“No, I’m not! Where are we? Have we reached Utopia?”

“Yes, this is Utopia.”

“Where is everyone? Where’s Chantho?”

The Doctor’s hearts sunk into his stomach and he just looked down at the Master for a very long time before gesturing to the bathroom door. “Go have a shower,” he repeated. The Master turned and looked at the door before swiveling to glare at the Doctor again. “Where’s Chantho?” he demanded harshly. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair tiredly and dropped his arm to slap at his side. “Master-I mean, Professor, Chantho is dead,” he informed him quietly. The Master looked at him for another moment, and then laughed nervously. “What? She can’t be dead… I was just with her! The rocket was going to fly to Utopia! You must be mistaken, Doctor,” the Master told him, completely sure of himself. The Doctor shook his head. “Look, there’s no easy way to say this, but I’m not mistaken. She’s dead, Professor.”

“What happened?”

“You… you killed her.”

“Wh-what?” the mad Time Lord spluttered. “How could you accuse me of something so… so atrocious? I didn’t kill Chantho, Doctor, and you know it! Something must’ve gone wrong with the launch, that’s all! And, you know, she isn’t even dead! She’s around here somewhere, I’m sure of it! I’ll find her, Doctor, and prove you wrong! She’s not dead!” 

The Doctor averted his eyes and just urged the Master toward the bathroom. “Go on, have a shower. You might feel better once you’ve cleaned up.”

The Master glared hurtfully at him for a moment, and then did as he was told and shuffled into the bathroom. Finally able to relax for about ten minutes, the Doctor slumped onto the bed and heaved out a great big sigh, dragging his hands down his face and running his fingers through his hair. He jumped when there was a scream from the bathroom. The Doctor scrambled to his feet and lunged into the bathroom to find the Master staring, horrified, at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. “Who the hell is that?” he demanded, pointing to his reflection. The Doctor let out a breath and closed his eyes, steadying the frantic pumping of his hearts. “That’s you, Professor,” he sighed. The Master squinted at him, and then leaned closer to the mirror and squinted at his reflection. “Tha-that’s not me!” he cried.

“It’s you. I promise.”

“No, it’s not! I’m… older! That’s not even what I looked like when I was younger! Who is that?” he demanded. The Doctor rolled his eyes and stepped over to the Master, gently guiding him out of the bathroom and to his bed. 

“Go on, get in. It’s just a dream, Professor.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Just a bad dream.”

The Master chewed on his lip and looked up at the Doctor doubtfully for a few hesitant seconds before reluctantly sliding under the blankets of the bed. “I’ll find Chantho while you’re asleep,” the Doctor promised quietly, tucking the Master into bed like he was a child. The smaller Time Lord nodded and rested his head against the pillow, but didn’t stop staring at the Doctor. “Need anything?” The Master shook his head and glanced away. “Once you fall asleep,” the Doctor assured him, “you’ll wake up in real life. Then, the nightmare will be over, and you’ll be on the ship with Chantho, heading toward Utopia. Alright?”

The Master nodded and curled up, hiding his head underneath the mountain of blankets on his bed. The Doctor gave his forehead a quick kiss before slipping out of the Master’s bedroom and taking the tin of biscuits with him. Perhaps it wasn’t only his ninth regeneration that had an affinity for these things… he made his way to the console room and peeled the lid off of the box. The Doctor reached in and plucked a cookie from inside and then tentatively nipped a corner off. He shrugged, fit the whole biscuit into his mouth, and then began working on some much-needed repairs to the console room. Hadn’t the Master said something about brakes, earlier? Perhaps now was a good time to fix the Chameleon Circuit. The Doctor fit another cookie into his mouth and went to work, gently removing some panels from the console and doing the necessary repairs on them.


	14. The Next Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok sorry this took so long. I've been busy with school and some drama with my girlfriend and such, but here's a short little chapter for you!

Ianto didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he’d woken up, and Jack was sitting on the bed next to him and staring at the TV. From what Ianto could tell, his Captain was watching… actually, he wasn’t sure what Jack was watching. There was a lot of fire and testosterone, from what the teaboy could tell. Jack glanced over at him and frowned. “Ianto, why didn’t you tell me you were awake?”

“Didn’t want to bother you. What is that?” Ianto wondered, gesturing to the TV. Jack shrugged and turned back to the show he had been watching. “It’s something called Supernatural. About monsters, instead of aliens.”

“Hm. Any good?”

“Have you seen the main characters?” Jack demanded excitedly. Ianto shrugged.

“I’ve seen better.”

“Oh? Like me?”

“Well, I don’t need to feed your ego! But, yes.”

Jack leaned over and kissed Ianto sloppily, with a big, happy grin and wrapped the teaboy in his arms, turning their attention back to the screen. “Drama queens, aren’t they?” Ianto mused with a smirk. Jack lightly smacked him on the arm. “Oi! I don’t make fun of your soap operas!”

“Yes, you do!”

“Okay, yeah, I do! But still, this is a good show. I’ve been watching it all night.”

“What’s it about?”

“These two gorgeous brothers crossing the country and fighting monsters. Demons, witches, shapeshifters, ghosts, the lot.”

“What shall we do today? Unless you just want to lay in bed and watch this, and maybe have sex. I’m alright with that. To be honest, I’m exhausted. These Time Lords of yours are a handful.”

“Several handfuls, I’m afraid,” Jack agreed with a sigh. Ianto laid his head on Jack’s lap and absentmindedly watched the screen of the TV, and Jack ran his fingers through Ianto’s hair. “I think a day off is good for us. The Doctor and the Master owe us that. And, the Doctor will be busy with the Master lately, so the only reason for us to get out of this bed would be if there’s an emergency.”

“What about food? Bathroom breaks?”

“I’ll have the Doctor bring us food. He won’t mind. And, as for bathroom breaks, you’ll just have to hold it,” Jack informed Ianto matter-of-factly. The teaboy squinted up at him until Jack laughed and shook his head. “Joking, Yan. Of course we can have bathroom breaks!”

“Right. Good. Are you sure the Doctor can manage?”

Jack nodded, gently massaging his lover’s scalp. “Yeah. The Master is mostly harmless, nothing like he was before you and I got here.”

“Never thought I’d hear you say that the Master is harmless.”

“Never thought I’d say it. I’ve spent some time with him - while you two were away. He seems harmless. And, if the Doctor needs our help he can come to us. Also…” Jack sat up and snatched the remote on the bedside table, and then clicked a few buttons. On the screen showed up ten fuzzy, black and white small squares of video feed. “What is that?” Ianto asked, although he suspected what they were. Jack didn’t smile. “I set up video cameras through the major areas of the TARDIS, where the Master and the Doctor both frequent most often.”

Ianto leaned up and squinted at one square of video. “Is that… is that the Master’s room?” he demanded.

Jack nodded solemnly. “I need to be able to keep an eye on him. He may be senile, but he’s the farthest thing from trustworthy.”

The two humans fell silent for a few more minutes, watching the Master sleep underneath his mountain of blankets. Jack enlarged one screen, which showed the Doctor working hard in the console room, repairing his TARDIS, and they watched him hard at work before the teaboy snatched the remote and flipped it to something more pleasant. Jack looked down at him with a strange expression. “Star Wars? I didn’t think you liked Star Wars.” Ianto shrugged and set the remote on the bedside table. He curled up and laid his head on Jack’s chest, and then they settled down for a much-earned lazy day.

 

The Doctor clamped his sonic screwdriver between his teeth to free his hands while he was applying some more repairs to the machinery underneath the grating floor of the console room. He hummed something to himself, but wasn’t focused much on the tune. The repairs he was doing needed precision. He heard footsteps echoing in the corridors, and then someone walking up behind him, but he couldn’t look back. Frankly, he didn’t feel the need to. He grunted a greeting and continued working on the machinery. 

“That’s not where that’s supposed to go,” the Master’s voice told him. The Doctor frowned and hazarded a look over his shoulder, to find the other Time Lord standing over him and looking over his shoulder at the repairs. His hands were behind his back in an innocent pose and his eyes and face showed interest in what the Doctor was doing. The taller Time Lord gathered all the wires that he needed to hold in one fist and then yanked his sonic screwdriver out of his mouth. “Master!” he cried with a grin. “You’re awake!” The Master nodded and pursed his lips. “That’s not where that’s supposed to go,” he repeated. The Doctor looked back down at his work and frowned. The madman was completely right. He rearranged some machinery and wires, and then turned back to the Master, who was assessing his work judgmentally. He nodded, satisfied, and leaned against the console. The Doctor put down what he was working on and sat back on his haunches, regarding the psychopath curiously. “Master?” he murmured.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember anything?”

“Anything of what?”

The Doctor frowned. Apparently, the Master didn’t remember what he’d said, or when he’d assumed the mindsets of former identities - Harold Saxon and Professor Yana. “Anything of what happened,” the Doctor replied, trying to dissect answers in the lunatic’s face. It was a blank slate. The Master shook his head, and then sat down on the floor across from the Doctor, reaching into the depths of the machinery and pulling out some wires. He fiddled with them - closely watched by the Doctor - and rearranged some in ways that would work better than how the Doctor had placed them. “What happened?” he retaliated. The Doctor frowned, unsure whether he should tell him or just keep quiet about what had happened. After all, the healing process wasn’t nearly finished yet. He touched the Master’s hand and corrected something that he’d done, and then sat back to watch him finish. “Nothing. Doesn’t matter, I was just curious. You feeling alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Bored.”

The Doctor smiled. “Come see a film with me! The TARDIS theater is one of the best theaters in the Universe!”

“I’m sure. Fine.” The Master put down the wires, securing them so that they wouldn’t fall apart, and then stood. The Doctor slid the grating back into place and then stood as well and watched the Master brush off his suit. “What film would you like to see?” the Doctor inquired.

“Not sure. Don’t care, really.”

“Have you ever seen the Lion King?”

“Absolutely not. We’ll watch a decent film or we won’t watch anything,” the Master insisted rudely. The Doctor frowned and pouted, sticking out his bottom lip and watching the Master’s eyes flicking to it. The psychopath sighed dramatically and looked away, tucking his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “I miss sex,” he admitted wearily. The Doctor frowned and admitted to himself that he missed it, too, but he would never tell the Master that. He reached out and took the Master’s hand, twining their fingers together, and they strolled through the corridors. Just as the door of the theater came into view, the Doctor stopped in his tracks and frowned. “Have you seen Jack and Ianto today, Master?” he wondered. The Master shrugged and shook his head. The Doctor looked around and found the door to Jack’s room hanging slightly open. He tugged the Master over with him and gently, silently pushed the door open to look in on the two of them watching Star Wars and napping, tangled into each other. The Doctor smiled and gently closed the door and then beamed down at the Master, pulling him into the theater. “Alright!” he cried once the door was securely closed behind them. Of course, the theater was soundproof, so they wouldn’t disturb the humans. “What would you like to see?”

“Dunno.”

“How about… a superhero movie! I quite like the Avengers, what about you?”

The Master knit his brows together, and then shrugged and fell into one of the comfy chairs of the Doctor’s infamous theater. He stretched his legs out and slumped down, taking up two or three seats. The Doctor prepared the film and then squeezed in next to the Master, getting as close to him as he could without the Master rudely shoving him away. The lights in the theater dimmed and the movie started with the Marvel logo flicking onto the screen. 

About halfway through the film, the Master screamed, making the Doctor jump and turn to him frantically. The smaller Time Lord looked up at him with terror and backed away, scrambling over the seats to get away from the Doctor. “Who are you?” he cried fearfully. The Doctor shot to his feet and put his hands out in front of him in a reassuring gesture to the madman. “Master, calm down! It’s me!”

The lunatic only looked confused, and hesitantly froze. “Who are you? Where am I?” He looked down at himself and screamed again, frantically tearing at his clothes with confusion. “This isn’t my body! This isn’t my body!” he shrieked. The Doctor ran forward and held both of his wrists out to his side to stop him from hurting himself and looked directly into the psychopath’s eyes, putting a hint of hypnosis into his stare and voice. “Master, calm down,” he commanded. The Master stuttered, but stopped screaming and looked up at the Doctor with wide, innocent eyes. Strange. The Master’s eyes had always been the farthest thing from innocent, except when he was a child… the Doctor’s eyes flew open in shock and he stuttered frantically. “K-Koschei?”

“How do you know my name?” the Master demanded suspiciously. The Doctor beamed down at him and wrapped the lost Time Lord in a tight hug. “Oh, I’m so glad it’s you! It’s me, Theta!” he cried happily. The Master froze for a moment, and then looked up at the Doctor with awe. “Th-theta? You don’t look like you!”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? All that matters is that it’s you!”

“Who else would it be?”

The Doctor bit his lip and firmly planted a kiss on the Master’s forehead, and then held him tighter and they just sat there for a few moments. The Doctor didn’t want to let go, but Koschei was pushing him away. “Where are we?” he demanded. The Doctor glanced up at the screen, and then back to the Master. “We’re in the theater of my TARDIS.”

“You have a TARDIS? How? You failed the exams!”

“I stole it!” the Doctor replied with a giddy grin. The Master looked at him with disbelief. “You stole a TARDIS? How the hell did they let you pull that off?”

“Long story. I’m so glad it’s you!” The Doctor beamed down at the Master, kissed him quickly, and then wrapped him in a tight, nearly suffocating hug. The other Time Lord struggled a bit, but then he gave in and wrapped his arms around the Doctor, who nearly wept with joy. It had been forever since the Master had hugged him or held him, even if he wasn’t thinking like the Master right now.


End file.
